2022-06-01-accounts - The Crito Project

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The Crito Project Charitable Incorporated Organisation

Report of the trustees for the year ending June 2022

The trustees of the Crito Project charity present an annual report for the year ended 01 June 2022 and confirm they comply with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011, the charity’s constitution, and the Charities SORP (FRS 102).

Our Aims	2
Our Objectives	3
Review of Activity and Achievement	4
Future Plans	5
Structure and Governance	6
Trustees & Volunteers	6
Receipts & Payments Account	7
Statement of Assets & Liabilities	8
Notes to the Accounts	8

Our Aims

The Crito Project proceeds from two key beliefs:

1) That education is the most cost-effective and successful mode of reform available to our society.

2) That universities have a civic duty to seek out students in unconventional settings, especially those whose lives stand at critical junctures, and who can benefit the most from higher education.

In light of these beliefs, our primary aim is to provide access to higher education to inmates serving their sentence in the east of England.

Second, we advocate for, and work to bring about, the provision of accreditation for those students, in association with strategic partners including the University of East Anglia, the US-based Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison, prison governors, education companies working in the sector, and affiliated charities.

Third, we analyse and audit our work in order to add to the collective knowledge and understanding of the impact that such study has upon the wellbeing, life chances, behaviour and decisions of the Charity’s students. We also assess our activity in order to improve the provision of our tutors and the efficacy of our courses.

We confirm that we as the charity’s trustees have complied with our duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the commission in exercising our powers.

Our Objectives

As detailed in reports such as User Voice’s 2022 “Coping With Covid in Prison” (see https://www.thecritoproject.org/crito-news/2022/8/22/measuring-the-pandemicimpact), many of the UK’s prisons have still only partially reopened, after the Coronavirus pandemic forced them into stringent lockdowns. During this period, many sites lost key personnel, and this reduction in staffing and capacity has in some cases created a situation where prisons are still unable to fully reopen their facilities; HMP Wayland was one such prison. Our objectives for our third year were therefore drastically reduced by the coronavirus pandemic for a second year running. Before these events we were preparing to move into the long-awaited second stage of provision, with the Crito Project becoming the UK’s first fully accredited university/prison initiative, in partnership with the University of East Anglia (UEA) and People Plus at HMP Wayland. The lockdown interrupted our first delivery of our new accredited curriculum, and since then we have struggled to restart teaching due to conditions on the ground: on three occasions this year we attempted to recruit and teach a new cohort of students at HMP Wayland, and on three occasions the prison was unable to open its education department for us to teach in. The Board of Trustees has thus decided to pause its partnership with HMP Wayland and look for a new site to deliver at which to deliver its higher education curriculum. Talks are ongoing with two prisons at present.

The aborted relaunch of classes has been a frustrating experience, and one that has cost the charity time and resources, but from out of it we hope to emerge with a new stronger partnership. We are once again thankful for the minimal material commitment and cost of the charity’s upkeep, which is a factor that has allowed us to weather this storm with only frustration and not damage.

Maintaining positive relations with all key partners through a period of reduced communication and in the absence of an active contract to teach.

Continue to finalise the UEA’s accreditation of three of the charity’s modules, and to begin talks with other departments to consider joining us in accredited provision.
To form a new long-term partnership with a suitable prison, one which will provide the charity to deliver stable higher education provision in the medium and long

term.

Forge strategic links with overseas prison education bodies to widen our knowledge base and form supportive alliances
To revisit and develop a robust set of policies regarding safeguarding, health & safety, vetting and equality & diversity.
Take a fresh look at our communications and website.

Review of Activity and Achievement

Our primary purpose was effectively impossible to achieve this year, as our charity was founded with the intent to provide face-to-face higher education to inmates serving their sentences in the east of England. With the last-minute cancellation of face-to-face teaching due to prison staff shortages, and with no possibility of using internet services such as Zoom or Windows Teams due to security laws for IT in UK prisons, it has been a testing year for the charity.

Despite that there have been a few achievements we can really be proud of:

First and foremost, this year saw the charity finalise its agreement with the UEA to accredit three of its modules; when our students study with us they will now have access to higher education with all its rewards and demands. This achievement is a culmination of the charity’s long-term commitment to its

purposes, and of the university’s admirable commitment to widening participation in higher education beyond the traditional campus. This is the only such

agreement in the country and it bodes well for the charity’s good works, once conditions in prison classrooms allow for recommencement.

We received payment for our education delivery 2019-2020 from our partners, People Plus, and significant donations, putting us in a great financial position to reopen strongly, with funds in place to stock a small library, exclusively for the use of Crito students.
Our Course Director took part in Bard College’s Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison Summer Residency (28 June–16 July 2021), an event from which the charity gained much, in the way of procedure, guidance and best practice.
We have incurred no significant costs during the year, due to our two tutors and our board of trustees all operating on a voluntary basis. This leaves us in a healthy state from which to restart provision.
We kept our charity website (www.thecritoproject.org) updated with news and opinion pieces.

Future Plans

While we’ll keep in contact with HMP Wayland, it now seems apparent that we need to move prison partner, if we want to meet our charitable purposes. To that end we plan to form a new partnership with HMP Warren Hill or Highpoint, and to begin teaching October 2022 or January 2023.

We have funds in place to support learners like never before, a paying contract arrangement with People Plus, and a finalised accreditation agreement with the UEA, so all the elements are in place to move the charity to its next stage of delivery, and to realise the potential of the good work that has got us to this point.

With the restarting of provision, we also expect to have the opportunity to study the impact of our provision through both qualitative and longitudinal studies in collaboration with our volunteer researcher, Dr Robert Lock. The charity will

prioritise these impact case studies, and use them to advocate for the project’s importance with its partners, People Plus and the UEA.

Structure and Governance

This year saw a change in board composition: Prof Liam Dolan stepped down as chair to the position of trustee, and Dr Tom Greaves was unanimously voted in as the next Chair of the charity. In addition, Mollie Holden Oates joined the board as its fourth trustee, bringing a wealth of project and team managerial experience to the charity.

Trustees & Volunteers

Chair

Dr Tom Greaves, Senior Lecturer, UEA Philosophy Department

Trustees

Georgie Oatley
Professor Liam Dolan
Mollie Holden Oates

Teaching Staff

Dr Ben Walker, Crito Project Course Director, UEA
Jack Manzi, Postgraduate Researcher, UEA

Research

Head Researcher

Dr Rob Lock

Receipts & Payments Account

	The Crito Project	The Crito Project	The Crito Project	1184526	CC16a

	Receipts andpayments accounts
	For the period from	Period start date	To	Period end date
		Jun 1, 21		Jun 1, 22

Section A Receipts and payments
	Unrestricted funds	Restricted funds	Endowment funds	Total funds	Last year
	to the nearest £	to the nearest £	to the nearest £	to the nearest £	to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
		-	-
Donations	5,000	-	-	5,000	-
Payment of invoice for teaching,People Plus	12,354	-	-	12,354	-
	- 0	-	-	-	-
	- 0	-	-	-	-
	- 0	-	-	-	-
	- 0	-	-	-	-
	- 0	-	-	-	-
*Sub total*_(Gross income for AR) _	17,354	-	-	17,354	-

A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table).
	- 0	- 0	- 0	-
	- 0	- 0	- 0	-	- 0
*Sub total*	- 0	- 0	- 0	-	- 0

**Total receipts **	17,354	- 0	- 0	17,354	- 0

A3 Payments
Printing & Website costs	717	-	-	717	-
Repayment of loan to open bank account	500	-	-	500	-
Teaching wages	9,180	-	-	9,180	-
Bank costs	90	-	-	90	-
	- 0	-	-	-	-
	- 0	-	-	-	-
	- 0	-	-	-	-
	- 0	-	-	-	-
**Sub total **	10,487	-	-	10,487	-

A4 Asset and investment purchases,(see table)
	- 0	- 0	- 0	-
	- 0	- 0	- 0	-
**Sub total **	-0	-0	-0	-	- 0

**Totalpayments **	10,487	- 0	- 0	10,487	- 0

**Net of receipts/(payments) **	6,867	-	-	6,867	-
A5 Transfers between funds	- 0	-	-	-	-
A6 Cash funds lastyear end	682	-	-	682	-
**Cash funds thisyear end **	7,549	-	-	7,549	-


Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
Categories	Details		Unrestricted funds	Restricted funds	Endowment funds
			to nearest £	to nearest £	to nearest £
B1 Cash funds			-	-	-
			-	-	-
			-	-	-
	*Total cash funds*		-	-	-
CCXX R accounts (SS) 1	1				28/10/202

			- 0		- 0		- 0	-
			- 0		- 0		- 0	-
		**Sub total **	-0		-0		-0	-	- 0

		**Totalpayments **	10,487		- 0		- 0	10,487	- 0

	**Net of receipts/(payments) **		6,867		-		-	6,867	-
	A5 Transfers between funds		- 0		-		-	-	-
	A6 Cash funds lastyear end		682		-		-	682	-
	**Cash funds thisyear end **		7,549		-		-	7,549	-


	Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the					end of the period
							Unrestricted	Restricted funds	Endowment
	Categories		Details				funds		funds
							to nearest £	to nearest £	to nearest £
	B1 Cash funds						-	-	-
							-	-	-
							-	-	-
				*Total cash funds*			-	-	-
CCXX R accounts (SS) 1					1				28/10/2022

				OK Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - - - - Current value (optional) - - - - - Current value (optional) - - - - - - - - - When due (optional)
	(agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))	OK	OK	OK
		Unrestricted funds	Restricted funds	Endowment funds
	Details	to nearest £	to nearest £	to nearest £
B2 Other monetary assets		-	-	-
		-	-	-
		-	-	-
		-	-	-
		-	-	-
		-	-	-

	Details	Fund to which asset belongs	Cost (optional)	Current value (optional)
B3 Investment assets			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-

	Details	Fund to which asset belongs	Cost (optional)	Current value (optional)
B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-

	Details	Fund to which liability relates	Amount due (optional)	When due (optional)
B5 Liabilities			-
			-
			-
			-
			-



Statement of A	ssets & Liabiliti	s

Statement of Assets & Liabilities

The charity has no assets or liabilities to declare. Because it has no dedicated offices and no current teaching contracts until teaching can recommence, the charity has no fixed costs. Over the coming few months the charity plans to assemble a small academic library on site, and this will represent the charity’s

Notes to the Accounts

This year saw the charity generate its first small income in the form of a) donations from individuals and b) late payment of contract by our prison education partners, People Plus. Receipts totalled less than £25,000, and so our receipts and payments accounts have not been independently examined.

The charity’s first accredited curriculum delivery was interrupted in March 2020. In stepping up to an accredited programme, the charity committed to paying its self-employed tutors a fee commensurate with the UEA’s associate tutor rates.

Payment on contract for teaching that took place in 2019-2020 was delayed, due to alterations in the contracting system made in response to covid closures, and so the charity received payment for previous delivery during the 2021-2022 period.

This payment allowed the charity to finally make delayed payments to the two tutors who delivered its teaching contract for 2019-2020 (Dr Ben Walker & Jack Manzi) for their services. The charity additionally made a few small purchases this year, in relation to advertising its work both onsite in prisons and online. These include yearly website fees and printing of one thousand brochures and application packs; the charity also paid back the £500 opening deposit loan, used to open its bank account, and paid a total of £90 bank fees for the year.

The year ended with the charity holding a significant percentage of its income in cash reserves, in readiness to recommence teaching in the near future. In particular, we foresee a need for significant expenditure in establishing a student library capable of supporting higher education learning for our future students.