## **Arts For Life Project (UK)** **Report and Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2021** **Charity number 1182882** ## **Arts For Life Project (UK)** ## **Report of the Management Committee for the year ended 31 March 2021** The Management Committee presents its directors’ report and audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2021. ## **Reference and Administrative Information** **Charity Name:** Arts For Life project (UK) **Charity registration number:** 1182882 **Registered Office:** 8 Rickmansworth Road, Pinner HA5 2ST **Operational Address:** Forge House, Forge Lane, Northwood, Middx HA6 1DP ## **Board of Trustees:** Penny Ericson Chair Ruth Howe Treasurer Dahlia Basrawi Emma Matthews Secretary ## **Senior Management Team:** Beth Gevell Director - Wellbeing & Family Support Jacqui Dennaford Director - Clinical & Development ## **Auditors** Simon Alexander & Co (Accountancy) Ltd 7 Murray Crescent, Pinner, Middx HA5 3QF ## **Bankers** Barclays Bank Plc, WEMBLEY & PARK ROYAL 2, LEICESTERSHIRE, LE87 2BB ## **Our Aims and Objectives** Purposes and Aims Our charity’s purposes as set out in the objects contained in the charities constitution are to: The relief of need of children and young people between the ages of 6 – 25yrs old, including families, carers and their supportive network living in Greater London and the surrounding areas, in particular through the provision of support services through using the integrative arts in therapy and education. - To provide specialized combined arts and mental health based services. - To relieve the pressures of day to day life of children with challenges and their families/carers - To help young people - especially but not exclusively, through Art based activities and therapy by providing a safe environment for them to relax, learn and benefit. - To ensure affordable access to proactive mental health support for the wider community. - To encourage proactive mental health development and support through an artsbased approach. - To develop and create opportunities for open communication for young people and their parents/carers - To create opportunities for partnership with other agencies and support services, providing information, advice and raising awareness to develop a whole new approach to youth and mental health. - To be all inclusive accepting children and their families from every walk of life from the Greater London area. Our aims fully reflect the purposes that the charity was set up to further. ## Ensuring our work delivers our aims We review our aims, objectives and activities each year. This review looks at what we achieved and the outcomes of our work in the previous 12 months. The review looks at the success of each key activity and the benefits they have brought to those groups of people we are set up to help. The review also helps us ensure our aim, objectives and activities remained focused on our stated purposes. We have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aim and objectives and in planning our future activities. In particular, the trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives they have set. ## The focus of our work Our main objectives for the year continued to be a reduction in Social Isolation & Community Disengagement, Mental Health Crisis, Anti-Social Behaviour & Co-Morbidity The strategies we used to meet these objectives included: - Providing a range of programmes which are reflective of our participants needs and address the potential problems related to special educational needs and mental wellbeing. - Limiting the potential for isolation which comes with complex needs, not only for the individual but also their family and friends and the wider community of Arts For Life Project. - Working in partnership with other agencies to secure the widest range of services to best match the needs of its participant population. **How our activities deliver public benefit** Our main activities and who we try to help are described below. All our charitable activities focus on the reduction in social isolation & community disengagement, and the risks of mental health crisis in young people aged 6 – 25 years. Our activities are undertaken to further our charitable purposes for the public benefit. Who uses and benefited from our services? Participants are hard to reach 6 – 25 year olds who have social, emotional, behavioural & communication challenges. Participant numbers over 2020 – 2021 saw an average 26% increase over core programmes leading to an expansion in staff and service days. In 2020 -2021 the organization also extended its support to the families and siblings of their participants following the challenging dynamics that materialised during Covid 19 pandemic lockdowns. ## Our services benefit Our services provides a vital role within the community supporting young people between 6 – 25 years and their families who find themselves on the margins of society through mental health challenges, learning challenges and special educational needs. The charity supports their emotional heath & wellbeing through the therapeutic value of the creative arts. Our services offer both grant funded spaces and paid-for spaces and are means-tested to offer the service to the wider community. ## **Financial Review** Against the backdrop of continued lockdowns, disrupted educational consistency, family bereavements and Special Educational Needs diagnosis delays, Arts For Life Project saw an increase in the demand for services and an extension of services to the community. A first half year in permanent residence has seen the charities income grow by 52%. Following on from the changes in service seen in 2020 the continued restructure of the organisation continued in 2020-2021 to ensure that vital needs arising from the fall-out of Covid-19 pandemic were being seen, researched and met. The charity continues to grow and source additional funds to oversee a changed organisation with a renewed services plan and developing services. Nevertheless the charity, with the aid of sound financial management and the support of its board, staff and volunteers generated a very positive financial outcome for the period with a net increase in funds of just over £45,000. ## Reserves Policy The Management Committee has examined the charity’s requirements for reserves in light of the main risks to the organisation. It has established a policy whereby the unrestricted funds not committed or invested in tangible fixed assets held by the charity should be between 3 and 6 months of the expenditure. The reserves are needed to meet the working capital requirements of the charity and the Board of Trustees are confident that at this level they would be able to continue the current activities of the charity in the event of a significant drop in funding. ## Plans for Future Periods The charity plans continuing their current activities in the forthcoming years subject to satisfactory funding arrangements. Plans are also being developed to work on a number of schemes with social partners including NHS and Statutory services contracts alongside developing the clinical support of the organisation through in-house and outreach therapeutic support services. Focus for this development is to continually develop partnerships with supporting services to streamline family support and encourage community working within the professional and the family structures. ## Structure, Governance and Management Governing Document The organisation is a charitable incorporated organization, incorporated on 9 April 2019. The charity was established under a constitution which established the objects and powers of the charity. ## **Recruitment and Appointment of Board of Trustees** The Board of Trustees are elected to serve for a period of three years after which they must be re-elected at the next Annual General Meeting. All members of the Board of Trustees give their time voluntarily and received no benefits from the charity. ## Trustee Induction and Training Most trustees are already familiar with the practical work of the charity through volunteering at activities and fundraising events. New trustees are invited and encouraged to attend a series of short training sessions (of no more than an hour) to familiarise themselves with the charity and the context within which it operates. These are jointly led by the Directors of the charity and cover: ## Risk Management The Board of Trustees is to carry out a review of the major risks to which the charity is exposed. A risk register will be established and will be updated at annually. Where appropriate, systems or procedures have been established to mitigate the risks the charity faces. Internal control risks are minimised by the implementation of procedures for authorisation of all transactions and projects. Procedures are in place to ensure compliance with health and safety of staff, volunteers, clients and visitors to the centre. These procedures are periodically reviewed to ensure that they continue to meet the needs of the charity. ## Organisational Structure The Arts For Life Project has a Board of Trustees of 4 members who meet quarterly and are responsible for the strategic direction and policy of the charity. At present the board has members from a variety of professional backgrounds relevant to the work of the charity. A scheme of delegation is in place and day to day responsibility for the provision of the services rest with the Chair of Trustees along with the Directors. The Director – Strategy & Clinical is responsible for ensuring that the charity delivers the services specified and that key performance indicators are met along with the responsibility for the day to day operational management of the Centre, individual supervision of the staff team and also ensuring that the team continue to develop their skills and working practices in line with good practice. Responsibilities of the Management Committee Company law requires the Board of Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the charity as at the balance sheet date and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including income and expenditure, for the financial year. In preparing those financial statements, the Board of Trustees should follow best practice and: - select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently - make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and • prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is not appropriate to assume that the charity will continue on that basis. The Board of Trustees is responsible for maintaining proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 1985. The Board of Trustees is also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. In accordance with charity law, as the charities directors, we certify that: so far as we are aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the charities auditors are unaware; and as the directors of the charity we have taken all the steps that we ought to have taken in order to make ourselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charity’s auditors are aware of that information. Simon Alexander & Co (Accountancy) Ltd were appointed as the charities auditors during the year and have expressed their willingness to continue in that capacity. This report has been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities (issued in March 2005) and in accordance with the special provisions of Part VII of the Companies Act 1985 relating to small entities. Approved by the Board of Trustees on 3 February 2022 and signed on its behalf by: Mrs R Howe Arts For Life Project Statement of Financial Activities (including Income & Expenditure Account) for the year ended 31 March 2021. #dr'y %d nual accounis for the CC17a Sectk>n A Stat•m•nt of llnanclal actlvlll•s R•¥tyi¢•pd •lalh olimvn Total last yMr knu>rnlng IN•t• 3 F01 FIY2 F03 F04 F05 15.(120 15.020 88.874 18.￿3 88 874 18.503 15.0￿) 107.3TI 122.397 R••oyrt•• •xp•nd•d Imotu ST2 rotslnsourcw •xwd•d st3 15.020 107.371 122.397 OroMtran*l•rs b•tw•M lund¥ r•c0pil4•dpJn￿•*j Slts 15 020 107 377 122 397 Oth•r v•c•gnlMd galn%lllossMI G•￿$ on olfMd •w•ts fofth* tharty's O¥AI $17 P4•tJN•ltyJM￿ kn funds 15.020 107.3TT 122.397 Tot41 lund• brnught 15.020 107.371 (HARITY comm￿sK￿ Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Seition A Ind+yndent Ezarniner s Report R•port 10 lh• trubt••41 m•mb•rn of LIFÉ PR)jtL I (IAtr. 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