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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
Contents
Reference and administrative Details ..................................................................................................... 3 A welcome from our Chair, Dr Vanessa Ogden ...................................................................................... 4 Co-Chief Executive Officers’ Introduction ............................................................................................... 5 Trustee Report for the year ended 31[st] August 2020 ............................................................................. 6 Objectives ........................................................................................................................................... 6 Our vision and mission ..................................................................................................................... 6 Our work .......................................................................................................................................... 6 Our activities ....................................................................................................................................... 7 Influencing policy and practice through our collective message .................................................... 7 Connecting and coordinating actors across the ecosystem ............................................................ 7 Increasing diverse leadership of the education agenda .................................................................. 8 Scaling impactful solutions .............................................................................................................. 8 Strategic Report ...................................................................................................................................... 8 Key achievements and performance .................................................................................................. 8 Future Plans ...................................................................................................................................... 10 Financial Review ................................................................................................................................ 10 Reserves Policy ...................................................................................................................................... 11 Structure, Governance and Management ........................................................................................ 11 Employees' involvement and engagement ........................................................................................... 11 Remuneration ....................................................................................................................................... 11 Risk and Uncertainties .......................................................................................................................... 11 Public Benefit Statement ...................................................................................................................... 12 Trustees' statement of responsibilities ................................................................................................. 13 Liability of members of the Board of Trustees ..................................................................................... 13 Independent Examiner’s Report to the trustees of The Fair Education Alliance ................................. 14 Financial Statements ............................................................................................................................. 15 Statement of financial activities (incorporating the Summary Income and Expenditure Account) for the year ended 31[st] August 2021 ...................................................................................................... 15 Balance Sheet at 31[st] August 2021 .................................................................................................... 16 Statement of Cash flows for the period ended 31[st] August 2021 ..................................................... 17 Notes to the Accounts ...................................................................................................................... 17
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
Reference and administrative Details
Company No. 11884952
Charity No. 1188042
Principal Office
6 Mitre Passage Greenwich Peninsula London SE10 0ER
Registered Office
6 Mitre Passage Greenwich Peninsula London SE10 0ER
Directors and Trustees
The Directors of the charitable company are its Trustees for the purposes of charity law. The following Directors and Trustees served during the year:
J. Cleverdon
Z. Elumogo
R. Hardie
R. Hobby
V. Ogden
O. Odanye (Appointed on 27 January 2021)
N. Perera
B. Wigdortz
Key Management Personnel
Co - Chief Executive Officer G Cicerone
Co - Chief Executive Officer S Butters
Accountants
Multiply Accountancy 71-75 Shelton Street London
WC2H 9JQ
Bankers
HSBC Bank plc 8 Canada Square London E14 5HQ
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
A welcome from our Chair, Dr Vanessa Ogden
I am delighted to present the second Annual Report of the Fair Education Alliance. As CEO of the Mulberry Schools Trust, every day I am privileged to witness the appetite that young people have to fulfil their potential, and the power of education to enable this. An inclusive, well-rounded and high-quality education that provides every child, regardless of their background, with the opportunity to thrive is critical for our society. This is not only because of the moral responsibility we have to our children and young people, but because, without access to a great education, the resulting impact is a considerable social and economic future cost to the nation – from crime to unemployment to community cohesion – loss to business, to the economy and to well-being, as well as a waste of talent.
The Fair Education Alliance exists because still, in 2021, we do not have a consistently fair education system in England. We know from hard evidence that before the pandemic, children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds were two years behind their wealthier peers by age 16. This difference in outcomes between rich and poor has been further deepened by Covid lockdown. Between March 2020 and April 2021 during school closures, we saw vividly the reality of hunger, health poverty and lack of home resources for learning experienced by some children in different communities across the country – food shortage and period poverty in some homes; disproportionate numbers of deaths from Covid in over-crowded housing; children attempting to access lessons from mobile phones (sometimes only one between several siblings) and no data or connectivity; exacerbation of the issues at the intersections of class, race and gender. For an affluent nation like the UK, it is unacceptable that poverty and disadvantage still disrupt and undermine the education of children in such ways and make them vulnerable. In summer 2021, the Education Policy Institute recommended that £13.5bn was needed for education recovery to address lost learning. As yet, the investment and commitments to date only total one third of the sum required.
Cross-sector, collective action in a strategic and joined-up way is imperative to tackle the scale and depth of the issues. The Fair Education Alliance is unique. It brings together private, public and third sector organisations to achieve systemic change beyond the power and remit of any individual or organisation. It provides a powerful network that unites top-down policy making with bottom-up, grassroots initiatives. It initiates ‘place-based’ solutions, energetically and strategically using local intelligence and partners to drive change for children with schools at the heart.
The Fair Education Alliance is unapologetically challenging with a ‘can-do’ attitude. Over the past year, I have been humbled by Alliance members’ commitment at a time when they have also faced significant challenges as charities, schools and youth organisations. Despite the impact on their own institutions, our members rose to the challenge – to collaborate, to influence policy and practice, and to support one another to have better impact on the lives of thousands of children across the country. Inequality for children, heightened by the pandemic, is a burning platform we cannot ignore. We must be prepared to invest in significant, long-term action. Funding is one element, but far beyond that, we must leverage the connecting point of the Fair Education Alliance to bring together key players with experience, evidence and passion to make change for their communities and instigate innovative, bold and co-ordinated solutions for system-wide change. Fairness for children and a great start in life through education is possible. Collective cross-sector action will make the difference - we will always achieve more together than we can achieve alone.
Dr Vanessa Ogden
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
Co-Chief Executive Officers’ Introduction
Over the past year, the Fair Education Alliance has grown to represent 238 member organisations from across business, the third sector and education to ensure that no child’s success is limited by their socioeconomic background. This is a testament to the fact that there is no shortage of passionate, active people trying to make education outcomes fairer. However, the barrier we face is that no individual, school, organisation or even sector can change the system. The Fair Education Alliance unites all of these actors to do more together than we can alone.
We are faced with, and unite to confront, an enormous challenge. Before the pandemic, inequality in education was starting to worsen and pupils from the most disadvantaged backgrounds were two years behind their wealthier peers. The pandemic has exacerbated inequality even further, in part due to issues such as school closures and access to digital tools for remote learning, but also due to wider increasing societal inequality. Significant, co-ordinated action is needed to ensure that young people get the education that they deserve and which will help the country to prosper.
We are proud of our members who have joined forces for swift action and continued investing in collaboration for long-term, systemic change. Over the past year, we have brought together over 500 individuals, strengthening relationships, knowledge and practice. From our seven Collective Action Working Groups, to 17 Award Winners, members are working together tirelessly to bring about change. They have struck a balance between peer support to maximise organisational impact, and collaboration for longer-term reform. At an organisation level, they have supported one another to adapt new delivery models, ensure top-quality safeguarding and target the areas of greatest need. On a systemic level, they have used collective voice to advocate for investment in skills, wellbeing and attainment, co-created our youth engagement strategy and displayed vulnerable leadership to acknowledge how we have sustained racial inequity and create solutions to address this.
Although further action is needed, the Alliance has strong foundations to build off and is in a
unique position to drive the change. Inequality in education is one of the most pressing issues of our generation, and we hope you’ll join our movement to address this. The scale of the issue can be daunting, but we can only achieve systemic change through us all joining forces. We hope that this report inspires you with the power of working together, and leaves you with a fire in your belly that collectively we can achieve more.
We want to thank our funders, trustees, advisors, member organisations and Secretariat for your
dedication to making this possible. We thank you for your unwavering commitment to our systemwide approach to enable all children and young people to thrive.
Fair Education Alliance Co-CEOs
Sam Butters and Gina Cicerone
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
Trustee Report for the year ended 31[st] August 2020
The Trustees, who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with the unaudited financial statements of the charity for the period ended 31[st] August 2021.
Objectives
The Fair Education Alliance is a coalition of nearly 250 member organisations. We promote equality of education provision through driving collective action, influencing policy and scaling impactful initiatives.
Our vision and mission
Our vision is a country where no child’s success is determined by their socioeconomic background. We believe that in order to achieve this, we need fundamental change. No one organisation, sector or even government can fix these complex issues. We need a new approach to tackle educational inequality collectively, and to work across sectors, organisations and individuals.
Our work
The UK education system does work, but only for the lucky few. The single biggest issue in education is inequality - there has always been a gap in performance between children from more advantaged and less advantaged backgrounds.
Before 2018, the overall inequality gap in education had been narrowing, albeit slowly. Our joint report with the Education Policy Institute published in August 2020 (analysis of data from 2019) showed that gaps were starting to widen, even before Covid-19. The pandemic and the related school closures led to considerable disruption to pupils, and there is evidence that the pandemic has widened the gap between the number of disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils reaching expected standard in schools. By the end of the 2020/21 academic year, the disadvantage gap remained wider than it had been at the start of the pandemic.
Unless a different approach is taken to creating a fair system, in particular for persistently disadvantaged children, the inequality gap is likely to never close.
This is what the FEA exists to do. Our work aims to achieve five Fair Education Impact Goals :
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Narrow the gap in literacy and numeracy at primary school
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Narrow the gap in GCSE attainment at secondary school
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Ensure young people develop social and emotional competencies, good mental health and wellbeing
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Narrow the gap in the proportion of young people taking part in further education or training after finishing their GCSEs
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Narrow the gap in university graduation, including from the 25% most selective universities
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
FEA members are working together to achieve an inclusive education system which:
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gives all young people a rounded education, ensuring that skills and wellbeing are prioritised alongside attainment
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engages parents and communities so education goes beyond the school gates
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supports, incentivises and rewards teachers and leaders to enable all children to thrive
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gives all young people the knowledge, skills and awareness to succeed in life after school
To achieve these priorities, the Secretariat provides the infrastructure for collaboration across
organisations working to improve education for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. The two outcomes of our strategy are:
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To increase member impact by building their capacity through direct support and through connecting them with others inside and outside the FEA network.
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To utilise the voice and action of the collective to advocate and influence policy and practice which will help achieve our priorities for the system.
Our activities
Influencing policy and practice through our collective message
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Annual Report Card : We produce an annual Report Card to share the state of educational inequality in England and key actions that our members are collectively taking.
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Working groups & roundtables : We convene local and national education leaders around key topics to take action on different aspects of education inequality.
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Statements, letters and responses: We respond to Government inquiries, representing the collective interests of our members for a fair education system.
Connecting and coordinating actors across the ecosystem
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Collective action: We convene diverse Working Groups for members to take action on topics including literacy, racial equality and wellbeing.
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Digital tools : We are developing digital tools to equip our members to target and collaborate in the areas of greatest need. The tools include a National Ecosystem Map which shows the need against provision - highlighting cold spots for action – and enables virtual connections and collaboration for all members.
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National events : We unite our members and build capacity at our two flagship events - Annual Summit and Impact Festival.
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Weekly bulletin : We inform members and other key stakeholders of news and opportunities in education through our weekly e-bulletins.
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
Increasing diverse leadership of the education agenda
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Youth Engagement: We enable young people to get involved in FEA activities and we have a youth engagement strategy to embed youth voice and enable young people to participate in decision-making.
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Ensuring equity, diversity and inclusion in FEA activities and beyond: We give people with insights, evidence and lived experience a platform to lead change through our events, Awards and other stakeholder engagement.
Scaling impactful solutions
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Innovation Award : a one-year incubator and £15k for up to five new ideas that challenge the status quo to make education fair.
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Intrapreneurship Award: a one-year incubator and £15k for up to five FEA members to launch a new initiative within their organisation.
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Scaling Award : a two-year programme of tailored, specialist support for up to seven FEA members to enable them to scale their impactful solutions to areas of greatest need.
Strategic Report
Key achievements and performance
We ended the 2020-21 year with 238 members, a 27% increase on the previous year. Our network includes charities, businesses, education organisations, think-tanks, unions and membership bodies. We work with organisations from early years through to Further and Higher Education, and we are a national movement reaching all corners of England.
80% of our member organisations took part in at least one FEA activity in 2020-21 year.
Influencing policy and practice through our collective message
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We co-created our latest Report Card with our members. It shows that educational inequality was already worsening pre-pandemic, and this has been exacerbated in the last year by the impacts of Covid. We argue that the severity of the situation presents a moment of opportunity for us to act. We call on the sector to avoid the 'lost generation' narrative and instead seize our chance to address long standing issues in the system.
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We wrote a cross-sector open letter to the Prime Minister from businesses, unions, charities, educators and young people about the need for government to commit to the £13.5 billion required investment into education recommended by the Education Policy Institute. The letter received widespread sector support and the story was featured in Schools Week and the Independent. We also reiterated the messages from this open letter when exam results were announced in August. This was covered by BBC News.
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We delivered a regular and consistent campaign of open letters, submissions and responses to Government inquiries. In total these letters were signed by 347 people, including representatives from 112 member organisations (47% of our membership). The submissions included: a Comprehensive Spending Review submission; calling for an extension to the National Tutoring Programme; A response to the Oracy All-party Parliament Group (APPG) Speak for Change Inquiry; and letters to the Secretary of State about long-term sustained funding for literacy and an increased focus on parental engagement in learning.
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We joined up with our members to support and amplify their work on issues ranging from free school meals to essential skills to mental health. Partners included Foundation for Education Development, the Food Foundation, Magic Breakfast, Skillsbuilder Partnership, #BeeWell, Place2Be.
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
Connecting and coordinating actors across the ecosystem
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Our Collective Action Working Groups are a space for members to learn and act together on key education issues. Members started two new groups (Addressing Racial Inequalities in Education and Wellbeing & inclusion) in 2020-21, bringing the total to seven groups who meet either weekly, monthly, or every few months. The groups brought together 178 people from 87 member organisations (38% of members). Key achievements included our Tuition Advocacy Group’s contribution to the Government’s decision to continue the National Tutoring Programme for 2021-22.
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Our Annual Summit is a chance for members and other stakeholders to collaborate and drive forward our shared vision for a fairer education system for all. In November 2020 we brought together 216 people from 134 member organisations (71% of members at the time) plus 68 other stakeholders. 93% of survey respondents (43 people) had an increased awareness of the FEA's work over the past year, 91% had an increased understanding of the FEA's 2021 strategy, and 91% had an increased awareness of the Scaling Impact Award Winners.
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Our Impact Festival supports members and early-stage innovators to develop knowledge, skills and connections for lasting change in education. In April 2021 we brought together 294 people from 121 member organisations (53% of members at the time) plus 73 early-stage innovators. The majority of attendees said the event increased their knowledge. Around half of the attendees said the event strengthened their networks. We had networking time in every session, but we know there is more we can do to facilitate meaningful connection building. However, less than half of attendees increased their skills. This was often due to the design of sessions being more informative rather than practical. We know that more early-stage innovators increased their skills, and we want to transfer more learnings to FEA members.
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We undertook the first stage of development of digital tools to help members connect and collaborate even better. Members feel the tools will increase collaboration and their impact as a collective.
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We sent 51 e-bulletins , read by over 450 unique people. Each bulletin helps members keep up with news from other members and the wider sector, share asks for help and offers of support and to create opportunities for collaboration.
Increasing diverse leadership of the education agenda
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We developed a youth engagement strategy to embed youth voice, enable young people to participate in decision making and support youth social action. We worked with members and a group of 12 young people to co-develop the strategy which we will start implementing the strategy from October 2021.
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We received 88 applications to our three Awards. Of the applicants, 27% were Black, Asian or minority ethnic individuals, 58% were female, 38% were outside London. More of the applicants to our Innovation Award for early-stage entrepreneurs were from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background (44%) and outside London (56%) than the applicants to our other two Awards. The Innovation Award is open to anyone, so it is a crucial tool to increase diversity of leadership in the sector. Of the 17 Winners, a consistent proportion were Black, Asian or minority ethnic individuals (23%) and outside London (35%).
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46 judges and due diligence experts gave nearly 500 hours of their time to help select our Award Winners in summer 2020. 12 (26%) of them were Black, Asian or minority ethnic individuals and 26 (57%) of them were female. We had young people as panellists on the Shortlisting and Final panels for our Innovation and Intrapreneurship Awards.
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
Scaling impactful solutions
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We received 88 applications for our Awards in 2020. Following a rigorous selection process, we selected five Innovation Award Winners, five Intrapreneurship Award Winners and seven Scaling Award Winners.
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Our Awards went beyond funding. We supported these 17 Award Winners with a package of tailored 1:1 support, training and peer support.
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After a year of support:
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All seven Scaling Award Winners reported that the FEA contributed to their most significant areas of progress
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Almost all (eight out of ten) Innovation Award and Intrapreneurship Award Winners reported that their progress was largely or wholly a result of the FEA support. One person felt their progress was partly a result of FEA support and another felt their progress was independent of the FEA support.
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Award Winners increased their reach by 68%, from 279,873 pupils to 470,019 pupils
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They increased their partnerships by 60%, from 866 to 1,382 schools and universities
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They increased their combined turnover by 76%, from £5.5m to £9.6m
Future Plans
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Increase collaboration between member-led Collective Action Working Groups
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Utilise the collective voice of our diverse membership to advocate for policy changes that prioritise narrowing the gap
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Enable our 17 Award Winners to start-up and scale to the areas of greatest need
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Pilot and launch our digital membership tools to help members target the areas of greatest need, and connect and collaborate to get there
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Launch and embed youth engagement strategy so that young people have increased voice and participation
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Meet our voluntary income target through clear communication of our purpose and our impact
Updates of our work can be found on our website: https://www.faireducation.org.uk/.
Financial Review
The Fair Education Alliance is committed to robust financial governance. Financial governance of the charity is led by the Co-CEOs who report to the Board of Trustees on details of the financial strategy, reporting and risk at each Board meeting. The day-to-day accounting for 2020/21 was carried out internally with the Co-CEOs and Office Manager with the support of our Accountant.
In the year ended 31[st] August 2021, we had expenditure of £713,207. Please see the breakdown in the accounts for an outline of this in more detail.
We finished the year with a surplus of £182,953 of which £117,955 is reallocated to delayed expenditure that we will incur in 2021/22 and 2022/23. The remaining £65,000 will be used for reserves, as outlined in the policy below.
The Fair Education Alliance receives income from our business members, trusts, and foundations. Our total income for the year ended 31[st] August 2021 was £896,160 (£696,170 of which was unrestricted and £199,350 restricted), meeting our fundraising target. We would like to express our thanks to everyone that supported us in 2020/21. The Fair Education Alliance is hugely grateful to all our supporters who provide funding and valuable pro bono professional support: we would like to
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
thank Allen & Overy, Barclays LifeSkills, Bloomberg, Credit Suisse, Fidelity UK Foundation, KPMG, Pears Foundation, Porticus, Treebeard, UBS, and Zing. This supports the charity’s financial sustainability and enables us to grow and support our members and networks across the country.
Reserves Policy
The charity holds free reserves in order to:
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provide a safeguard against the risk of downturn in support of our activities (which could lead to expenditure exceeding income)
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provide working capital to finance day-to-day operations; and
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cover the costs of wind-down of one or more programmes in the event of key funding being curtailed.
The trustees have set a target to hold reserves of four months of annual expenditure (less Award Winner grants of £150,000) to be built up over 5 years (2019/20 being Year 1; 2023/24 being Year 5). Per current expenditure, this target amounts to maintaining reserves of approximately £230,000.
The charity’s free reserves at the end of its second year operation were £105,000. The charity has plans in place to build these reserves by putting 6.7% of expenditure per annum into reserves.
The policy is to be reviewed every twelve months.
Structure, Governance and Management
The Fair Education Alliance is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee in England and Wales. It is governed by its Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association, last revised in February 2020. The charity’s trustees are also its members and the company directors.
This annual report contains the information required by company law in a directors’ report. Any person who is willing to act as a trustee, and who would not be disqualified from acting, may be appointed by a majority decision of the trustees. The trustees take into account the skills and composition of the Board when making such appointments. New trustees receive a comprehensive induction that helps them to understand both the organisation and their own responsibilities. The trustees are responsible for the governance and strategic direction of The Fair Education Alliance and make decisions in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act 2006 and Charities Act 2011. The Board meets at least four times a year. Day-to-day management of the charity is delegated by the trustees to the Co-CEOs.
Employees' involvement and engagement
We believe employees should be engaged with and involved in how the Fair Education Alliance is managed. Employees attend regular strategy and team days, where we discuss organisational developments and generate ideas about new ways of working. We also keep employees updated through staff emails and weekly team meetings. Employee engagement with our charitable mission is very important to us.
Remuneration
The Board of Trustees is responsible for the Co-CEOs’ remuneration and our employee salary and benefits. Each year the Co-CEOs are responsible for reviewing our performance reward strategy for employees and recommending it for Board endorsement.
Risk and Uncertainties
The trustees have overall responsibility for risk management but also recognise that for risks to be identified and managed successfully, there needs to be shared accountability throughout the
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organisation. In line with our risk management policy, a risk register is maintained that captures the nature of the risk, its likelihood and impact, and mitigations that are to be put in place to reduce the likelihood and/or impact. The risk register is updated by the Co-CEOs on a quarterly basis and reviewed by trustees at quarterly meetings.
All significant risks, including business and operational risks, are currently at an acceptable level. The charity regularly monitors risks in line with the above policies and has taken mitigating steps to protect against these risks. The main risks facing the charity are:
Child Safeguarding: risk of a child safeguarding incident occurring
We began to work directly with children and young people because of our youth engagement strategy, and therefore we overhauled our child safeguarding policies and procedures in Spring 2021 to prepare for this. All staff members receive DBS checks and in-depth training on child safeguarding that is refreshed annually. In addition, our Board receives regular updates on child safeguarding.
Political environment: Working with policy makers is critical in making changes for systemic change in education.
We have continued to build relationships with key individuals at the Department for Education, ministers and Office of the Children’s Commissioner. We have also drawn on connections of members alongside building our own.
Member engagement in FEA strategy: FEA strategy is reliant on the active participation of member organisations to drive change.
Over 80% of FEA members actively engaged in FEA activity over the course of the year. This is due to the variety of opportunities for members to lead or get involved in, and targeted communications due to revised membership engagement tracking and management.
Funding Sustainability: FEA needs appropriate funding to deliver its strategy.
We rely on voluntary income to deliver our strategy. We continued to engage our supporters to develop deeper partnerships, and explored partnership with other education funders.
Public Benefit Statement
The Directors of the Fair Education Alliance have considered the requirements of the Charity Commission with regards to public benefit.
The sections of this report titled "Objectives and Activities" and "Achievements and Performance" set out the Fair Education Alliance’s objectives and report on the activity and successes in the year to 31[st] August 2021 and outline the plans for the current financial year. The trustees have considered this matter and concluded that:
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The aims of the organisation continue to be charitable
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The aims and the work done give identifiable benefits to the charitable sector and both indirectly and directly to individuals in need
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The benefits are for the public, are not unreasonably restricted in any way and certainly not by ability to pay
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There is no detriment or harm arising from the aims or activities
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
The trustees confirm that they have referred to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity's aims and objectives and planning future activities for the year.
Trustees' statement of responsibilities
The trustees, who are also directors of the Fair Education Alliance for the purposes of company law, are responsible for preparing our trustees' report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.
The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the trustees to prepare the annual report and financial statements for each financial period which give a true and fair view of the charity’s financial activities during the period and of its financial position at the end of the period. In preparing financial statements giving a true and fair view, the trustees should follow best practice and:
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select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
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make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
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state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
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prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The trustees are responsible for keeping accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy the financial position of the charity and which enable them to ascertain the financial position of the charity and ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. The trustees are responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. The trustees are not aware of any relevant audit information that has not been disclosed to the charity’s auditors. The trustees have taken all the steps that ought to have been taken in order to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charity’s auditors are aware of that information. The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
Liability of members of the Board of Trustees
The Fair Education Alliance is limited by guarantee and has no share capital. The trustees are members of the company and every member is liable to contribute a sum not exceeding £1 in the event of the company being wound up while he or she is a member or up to one year thereafter. At 31[st] August 2021 there were 8 members.
Declaration: This Trustees' Annual Report on pages 3 – 13, including the Strategic Report on pages 8- 10, is presented and approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on its behalf.
Signed:
Date: 23[rd] May 2022
Dr Vanessa Ogden
Chair of the Board of Trustees
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
Independent Examiner’s Report to the trustees of The Fair Education Alliance
I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of The Fair Education Alliance for the period ended 31[st] August 2021 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Summary Income and Expenditure Account, the Balance Sheet, the Statement of Cash Flows and the related notes.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the trustees of the charity (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 ('the 2006 Act’).
Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the charity are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your charity's accounts as carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 ('the 2011 Act'). In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.
Independent examiner's statement
As the charity's gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the 2011 Act. I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of the Institution of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
I have completed my examination. I can confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that:
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accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 386 of the 2006 Act ; or
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the accounts do not accord with those records; or
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the accounts do not comply with the accounting requirements under section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a 'true and fair' view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
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the accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102).
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Chris Conway
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
Multiply Accountancy Limited 71-75 Shelton Street London WC2H 9JQ 24[th] May 2022
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
Financial Statements
Statement of financial activities (incorporating the Summary Income and Expenditure Account) for the year ended 31[st] August 2021
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
Balance Sheet at 31[st] August 2021
These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
For the year ending 31[st] August 2021 the company was entitled to exemption under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies. The members have not required the company to obtain an audit in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.
The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts.
Approved by the board on 28[th] January 2021
And signed on its behalf by:
V. Ogden Trustee 28[th] January 2021
Company No. 11884952
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
Statement of Cash flows for the period ended 31[st] August 2021
Notes to the Accounts
1 Accounting Policies
Basis of preparation
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with 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) (effective 1 January 2015) - (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. They are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Amounts presented are rounded to the nearest pound.
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
Change in basis of accounting or to previous accounts
There has been no change to the accounting policies (valuation rules and method of accounting) since last year and no changes have been made to accounts for previous years.
Fund accounting
Unrestricted funds These are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objects of the charity.
Designated funds These are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular purposes. See note 13 to the accounts for full information. Restricted funds These are available for use subject to restrictions imposed by the donor or through terms of an appeal. See note 13 to the accounts for full information.
Income
Recognition of income Income is included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when the charity becomes entitled to, and virtually certain to receive, the income and the amount of the income can be measured with sufficient reliability. Income with related Where income has related expenditure the income and related expenditure expenditure is reported gross in the SoFA. Donations and Voluntary income received by way of grants, donations and gifts is included legacies in the the SoFA when receivable and only when the Charity has unconditional entitlement to the income.
Speaker and This is included in the accounts when receivable. appearance income Tax reclaims on Income from tax reclaims is included in the SoFA at the same time as the donations and gifts gift/donation to which it relates. Donated services and These are only included in income (with an equivalent amount in facilities expenditure) where the benefit to the Charity is reasonably quantifiable, measurable and material. Volunteer help The value of any volunteer help received is not included in the accounts. Investment income This is included in the accounts when receivable. Gains/(losses) on This includes any gain or loss resulting from revaluing investments to market revaluation of fixed value at the end of the year. assets Gains/(losses) on This includes any gain or loss on the sale of investments. revaluation on investment assets:
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
Expenditure Recognition of Expenditure is recognised on an accruals basis. Expenditure includes any VAT expenditure which cannot be fully recovered, and is reported as part of the expenditure to which it relates.
Expenditure on raising These comprise the costs associated with attracting voluntary income, funds fundraising trading costs and investment management costs. Expenditure on These comprise the costs incurred by the Charity in the delivery of its charitable activities activities and services in the furtherance of its objects, including the making of grants and governance costs. Grants payable All grant expenditure is accounted for on an actual paid basis plus an accrual for grants that have been approved by the trustees at the end of the year but not yet paid.
Support costs These include those costs associated with meeting the constitutional and statutory requirements of the Charity, including any audit/independent examination fees, costs linked to the strategic management of the Charity, together with a share of other administration costs.
Other expenditure These are support costs not allocated to a particular activity.
Taxation
The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.
Tangible fixed assets and depreciation
Depreciation is provided at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life:
Plant and Machinery 33% Straight line
Trade and other debtors
Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.
Cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash at bank and on hand, demand deposits with banks and other short-term highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less and bank overdrafts. In the statement of financial position, bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings or current liabilities. In the Statement of Cash Flows, cash and cash equivalents are shown net of bank overdrafts that are repayable on demand and form an integral part of the company's cash management.
Trade and other creditors
Short term creditors are measured at the transaction price. Other creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
Foreign currencies
Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in currencies other than the functional currency of the charity are translated at the rates of exchange prevailing at the end of the reporting period. Transactions in currencies other than the functional currency of the charity are recorded at the rate of exchange on the date that the transaction occurred.
All exchange differences are taken into account in arriving at net income/expenditure.
Pension costs
The charity operates a defined contribution plan for its employees. A defined contribution plan is a pension plan under which the company pays fixed contributions into a separate entity. Once the contributions have been paid the company has no further payments obligations. The contributions are recognised as expenses when they fall due. Amounts not paid are shown in accruals in the balance sheet. The assets of the plan are held separately from the company in independently administered funds.
2 Company status
The company is a private company limited by guarantee and consequently does not have share capital.
3 Income from donations and legacies
4 Expenditure on raising funds
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
5 Expenditure on charitable activities
6 Analysis of charitable expenditure
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
7 Other expenditure
8 Net income before transfers
9 Staff costs
Two employees received emoluments between £70,000-£80,000 (2020: none).
No trustees (2020: none) were reimbursed for expenses incurred (2020: none) for travel to board meetings. No trustee received any remuneration in the year (2020: none).
Key management personnel comprise the co-Chief Executive Officers as laid out on page 2. Total cost of employing these individuals was £180,072 (2020: £56,544). Included in this amount are total pension contributions of £8,414.
The average number of staff employed, including part time staff was 10 (2020: 9)
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
10 Tangible fixed assets
11 Debtors
12 Creditors
The deferred income includes revenue that was invoiced in 2020/21 financial year but pertains to partnerships for the 2021/22 financial year.
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
13 Movement in funds
Scaling Award restricted fund: To support 7 impactful initiatives to scale to the areas of greatest need through a two-year programme of training and support.
Membership Tools restricted fund: To support the direct staff and tool development costs for digital tools for targeting, connection and collaboration.
Youth Engagement restricted fund: To create and embed the youth steering group and the youth engagement working group.
Innovation Award designated fund: To fund and support up to five Award Winners from the public to pilot and scale their idea for tackling educational inequality. Each Award Winner receives £15k grant.
Intrapreneurship Award designated fund: To fund and support up to five Award Winners from the FEA membership to pilot and scale their idea for tackling educational inequality. Each Award Winner receives £15k grant.
Membership Tools designated fund: To cover support staff costs for creating the digital tools for targeting, connection and collaboration.
Peer to Peer Conference designated fund: To support early-stage innovators from the public or FEA membership to develop their idea and apply for the Awards through the “Impact Festival”.
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
14 Analysis of net assets between funds
15 Statement of Financial Activities (incorporating the Summary Income and Expenditure Account) for the period ended 31st August 2020
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – 2021
16 Relating party disclosures
Controlling party
The company is limited by guarantee and has no share capital; thus no single party controls the company.
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