2022-08-31-accounts

Trustees’ Report and Unaudited Accounts 31st August 2022

faireducation.org.uk | [e-mail] | @_TheFEA

Contents

Reference and Administrative Details	3
A welcome from our Chair	4
Chief Executive Officer’s Introduction	5
Foreword from our Youth Steering Group	6
Trustee Report for the year ended
31st August 2022	7
Objectives	7
Our activities	11
Key achievements and performance	12
Future Plans	15
Financial Review	17
Risk and Uncertainties	18
Trustees’ statement of responsibilities	19
Independent Examiner’s Report to the
trustees of The Fair Education Alliance	20
Statement of Financial Activities (incorporating
the Summary Income and Expenditure Account)
for the year ended 31st August 2022	21
Balance Sheet at 31st August 2022	22
Statement of Cash flows for the period ended
31st August 2022	23
Notes to the Accounts for the year ended
31st August 2022	24

2 Fair Education Alliance | Annual Report and Accounts 2021 – 2022

Reference and Administrative Details

Company No. 11884952 Charity No. 1188042

Principal 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

Registered Office

6 Mitre Passage Greenwich Peninsula London SE10 0ER

R. Hobby

V. Ogden

O. Odanye

N. Perera

B. Wigdortz

Key Management Personnel

Co-Chief Executive Officer Co-Chief Executive Officer

G. Cicerone 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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A welcome from our Chair Dr Vanessa Ogden

This year marks a decade since sector stakeholders collaborated to create the Impact Goals – a way for society to measure our progress in closing the disadvantage gap in education. Since 2012, our 240 members have devoted sustained, strategic attention and determined action to closing this gap.

Our work has led to pockets of incredible progress for some young people in different parts of the country. Yet, as we see from our most recent Report Card , at the system level the disadvantage gap in some areas has remained stubborn – and following the recent Covid-19 crisis, it is widening again. Factors which have hindered our ability to close the gap include a decrease in real-term funding for schools since 2010, rising poverty as energy prices increase and salaries, income support and other benefits do not keep up with inflation, and reduced support services to help households in financial difficulty. Without a strategic collective response to child poverty, that targets it in multiple ways at the same time, all we will ever do is skim the surface.

This is why the Fair Education Alliance exists. This coalition unites diverse stakeholders under a common strategy, a powerful collective voice and coordinated action to achieve change beyond the power of any one organisation. I am proud of the impact that our alliance and the FEA team have achieved thus far.

Over the past year, the FEA has equipped members to deliver greater impact, including targeting the areas of greatest need, developing innovative programmes and new models to scale as well as embedding youth engagement within many organisations’ work. At a policy level, the FEA kept a relentless focus on supporting pupils from low-income backgrounds, influencing the National Tutoring Programme and investment in education. We have purposeful plans to build on these achievements over the next year. We will focus on place-based change. We will lobby policy makers to prioritise education ahead of the 2024 election. We will use our insightful National Ecosystem Map for members to target the areas of greatest need. We will create a ‘youthquake’ of young people to help lead the vanguard for change. We will nurture impactful innovations that challenge inequality and direct them to the communities that need their services most.

We take heart that, working together as schools, businesses, charities, social enterprises, policymakers and young people, we will keep battling for a fairer system that eradicates the disadvantage gap in education. We will continue to tackle entrenched issues through our collective approach – with a unified voice, effective collaboration, diverse leadership and innovations that create meaningful change. We invite you to join our movement to challenge child poverty and eliminate disadvantage through giving every child in a low-income family a full, well-supported school experience – because we all know a good education is a ‘life chance’ and that every day counts.

Dr Vanessa Ogden Chair, Fair Education Alliance

4 Fair Education Alliance | Annual Report and Accounts 2021 – 2022

Chief Executive Officer’s Introduction

Gina Cicerone

In 2022 we are not giving our children and young people the education they deserve. The Impact Goals, which were established one decade ago, were crucial in the sector. They aligned us under a shared vision and framework, and united actors working towards the same goals. Hundreds of thousands of individuals and organisations have worked tirelessly to achieve the goals and close the gap in education outcomes between children and young people from low-income backgrounds and their wealthier peers. This has had an impact for so many young people across the country, from early years through to careers. However, as this year’s Report Card shows, the gaps remain stubbornly wide, greatly due to factors outside the education sector including the pandemic, rising poverty, increasing inequality and insufficient school funding.

We’re proud of the work of the FEA members despite those challenging circumstances, and the outcomes they have achieved. Over the past year, our 240 members directly supported over two and a half million children and young people and over 150,000 teachers and headteachers, improving young people’s attainment, wellbeing, skills and post-16 progression. We used our unified voice to co-create and amplify dozens of campaigns calling for increased investment and targeting of young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds. We joined up over 600 sector stakeholders to take action together.

We co-created the powerful digital tools to transform collaboration and targeting. We invested in young people to lead the charge. And we helped nurture bold initiatives and supported Award Winners to double their reach.

The need for the FEA movement has never been greater. Despite the challenges that lie ahead for our members, the sector and society, we will not give up. This is a pivotal time for influencing change on a system level. Across the next year, we will use our powerful collective voice to ensure that education is prioritised across all political parties. We will apply the rich data from our digital tools to target cold-spots and enable effective place-based change. We will prepare the sector to create a youthquake that disrupts the status quo. We will innovate to tackle the entrenched problems that impede societal progress, and scale to the areas of greatest need.

This will not be an easy journey. Our members are all affected by the cost-of-living crisis – from reduced funding to capacity crunches to new priorities that address urgent issues in their communities – but our work together is the only way we will transform the outcomes for young people now and in the future. We’ve always known it takes a village to raise a child – but it’s now apparent that it takes a nation. We want to thank our funders, trustees, advisors, member organisations and Secretariat for your dedication to this nationwide effort. We thank you for your unwavering commitment to our system-wide approach to enable all children and young people to thrive.

Gina Cicerone

Chief Executive Officer

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Foreword from our Youth Steering Group

The last year has shown us why it is so important that the Fair Education Alliance exists. With the COVID pandemic impacting education so drastically and the cost-of-living crisis worsening, the FEA have been integral in ensuring the perspectives of the young people most affected are heard.

In difficult climates, those in power often forget about young people and that we are the experts in our own experiences. But the FEA acts as a flag: alerting others of our needs and wants, highlighting how the barriers to education intersect, and then including us in designing and collectively advocating for the solutions to fix the problems facing too many students. This equal partnership, where we are respected and heard, allows us to feel safe and be our authentic selves as we work together for a fairer future.

As a Youth Steering Group, we are incredibly proud of everything we have participated in, from working with Ofsted on their strategy and speaking at the Festival of Education, to representing the group at 10 Downing Street, responding to Child Q and hosting our own event on exams, the cost-of-living crisis and mental health. We’ve spoken out against inequality and identified the change that needs to happen, and in doing so hope to have made a difference for young people now and in the long term.

By being a part of the FEA, we have felt so empowered in knowing that we aren’t alone in the pursuit of fair education for all. As we reflect on 2021/22 and embark on the next academic year, we are determined to change the education system, aiming high and trying our absolute best to help as many people as we can.

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Trustee Report for the year ended 31st August 2022

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 31st August 2022.

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

Why the FEA exists

For several decades, successive governments, educators, businesses, charities and social enterprises have tried to improve education for the most disadvantaged children and young people. Many people have the same vision for a fair education system but different views on how to get there, resulting in siloed work and competing voices rather than a joined-up approach. These individual efforts have had an impact on some young people, but the sum of these efforts is not making an impact for all young people.

For the last decade, the FEA has monitored gaps between poorer pupils and their wealthier peers across five measures: attainment at primary school, attainment at GCSE, socio-emotional competencies and skills, post-16 destinations and access to higher education. We know that the gaps between poorer pupils and their wealthier peers have mostly failed to shift over the past decade, and some groups have fallen even further behind.

Our work aims to achieve five Fair Education Impact Goals:

1. Narrow the gap in literacy and numeracy at primary school

2. Narrow the gap in GCSE attainment at secondary school

3. Ensure young people develop social and emotional competencies, good mental health and wellbeing

4. Narrow the gap in the proportion of young people taking part in further education or training after finishing their GCSEs

5. Narrow the gap in university graduation, including from the 25% most selective universities

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The FEA’s approach

The FEA unites 245 member organisations to tackle educational inequality together. Our members represent the voices of young people, charities and social enterprises, research organisations and think tanks, businesses and foundations, unions, universities and schools.

Together, our members provide direct support to over two and a half million young people annually across every region of England as well as indirect support such as funding, training and campaigning.

Our members chose four collective priorities to create a fair, inclusive education system:

Gives all young people a rounded Engages parents and carers education, ensuring that skills so education goes beyond and wellbeing are prioritised the school gates alongside attainment We want to see an inclusive education system which...

Supports, incentivises and rewards teachers and leaders to enable all children to thrive

Gives all young people the knowledge, skills and awareness to succeed in life after school

8 Fair Education Alliance | Annual Report and Accounts 2021 – 2022

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:

1. To increase member impact by building their capacity through direct support and through connecting them with others inside and outside the FEA network.

2. 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.

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Our 245 FEA members...

Represent diverse voices

This includes young people, charities and social enterprises, research organisations and think tanks, businesses and foundations, unions, universities and schools. 72% of our members are delivery organisations, working directly with pupils, teachers, parents or other people in the education system. The rest are a mix of membership bodies, unions, research organisations, businesses, foundations, schools, colleges or universities.

Range from large national organisations to small grassroots initiatives

Some members are big businesses with thousands of staff and a team dedicated to education programmes, while others are small local charities with deep local relationships with children and families.

Tackle the breadth of educational inequality

Educational inequality has complex causes and symptoms. Members work on inequality in mental health & wellbeing (61% of members), attainment (59%) and skills development (57%). Other areas of focus include university access and progression, careers and employability, and early years.

Have diverse leadership

16% of our members’ CEOs and on average 26% of our members’ senior leadership teams are from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background.

22% of CEOs were eligible for Free School Meals and/or first generation in their family to attend higher education.

Support millions of people

Together, our delivery members provide direct support to over two and a half million children and young people annually across every region of England, as well as indirect support such as funding, training and campaigning.

Work in every region of England

60%of members work across all regions in England

In each region, from the South West to the Midlands to the North East, at least 66% of members are tackling educational inequality.

Give young people space to lead

81% 52% of our members involve of members involve young people in their young people in work in some way. decision-making through a youth board/council and/or young trustees.

Much of the information we have about the characteristics of our members comes from our annual member survey and is based on the proportion of member survey respondents.

10 Fair Education Alliance | Annual Report and Accounts 2021 – 2022

Our activities

There is a unified collective message about what we want for education in England and how we can achieve it

– 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.

– Working groups, roundtables and other events

We convene local and national education leaders around key topics to take action on different aspects of education inequality.

– Statements, letters and responses

We respond to Government inquiries, representing the collective interests of our members for a fair education system.

Increased connectivity and coordination across the education system

– Collective action

We convene diverse Working Groups for members to take action on topics including literacy, racial equality and wellbeing.

– Digital tools

We prepared to launch digital tools which 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.

– Annual Summit

More diverse leadership of the education agenda

– Youth Engagement

We enable young people to get involved in FEA activities. We do this through our Youth Steering Group and building capacity in the sector to embed youth voice and enable young people to participate in decision-making.

– 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.

Solutions to issues in education are scaled systemically and based on need

– Innovation Award

A one-year incubator and £15k for up to five new ideas that challenge the status quo to make education fair.

– Intrapreneurship Award

A one-year incubator and £15k for up to five FEA members to launch a new initiative within their organisation.

– 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.

We bring together our members and sector stakeholders through our Annual FEA Summit.

– Weekly bulletin

We inform members and other key stakeholders of news and opportunities in education through our weekly e-bulletins.

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Strategic Report Key achievements and performance

We unite 244 member organisations to tackle educational inequality together

75% of members took part in at least one FEA activity in 2021-22.

This ranged from attending our Annual Summit or a Collective Action Working Group, to co-creating our new membership tools. We want every member to be able to contribute to our collective work.

86%of members who participated in FEA activities said their overall experience as a member was good or excellent.

We shared a unified collective message about what we want for education in England and how we can achieve it

• Our latest Report Card shows the gaps in attainment, skills and access to employment and education between poorer pupils and their wealthier peers have mostly failed to shift over the past decade. Some groups have fallen even further behind. Therefore, we called for increased investment in education and targeted support for specific issues and groups of pupils.

• We called for increased investment in education and targeted support for specific issues and groups of pupils. For increased investment, we issued a response to the Autumn 2021 Budget and the Education section of the Levelling up White Paper, publicised campaigns from on the Cost of the School Day and an uplift in Pupil Premium , and signed joint letters to the Government to increase funding for free school meals . For targeted support, we joined up with the Fair Access Coalition to respond to the Post-18 proposals (Augar response) and IntegratEd for the SEND and AP Green Paper response, and urged government to adopt the Career Guidance Guarantee .

• We influenced the focus of the National Tutoring Programme (NTP). As a result of our collective advocacy, the Department for Education stated that schools must use quality-assured providers, that group ratios are recommended to be 1:3 and that schools should prioritise pupils eligible for pupil premium.

• Overarching Campaign Working Group is an important forum for developing our messaging and collective agenda, with 40 people from 32 member organisations (13% of our members) attending in the last year.

12 Fair Education Alliance | Annual Report and Accounts 2021 – 2022

We increased connections and collaboration across the ecosystem so organisations learn from each other, avoid duplication and act together

• Our Collective Action Working Groups are a space for members to learn and act together on education issues. The seven groups brought together 271 people from 113 member organisations (46% of our members) and 91 people from 71 other organisations.

• Our Annual Summit is a momentous occasion, bringing together our members, education innovators and key sector stakeholders to drive forward our shared vision for a fair education system and to shape our strategy. We hosted 23 virtual sessions and 11 in-person dinners, bringing together 273 individuals from 131 member organisations (53% of members at the time). 85% of survey respondents better understood our strategy, 90% felt more aware of the FEA’s work and 85% made new connections or strengthened existing connections with others.

• We co-created and prepared to launch our Membership Tools with 56 members and 36 other stakeholders. These tools support members to connect and collaborate more effectively and target their work for the greatest impact through our Member Directory and our Ecosystem Map.

• We represented our members in other education forums and shared key messages back to the membership. This includes the IntegratEd Partnership , Schools Wellbeing Partnership , Child Poverty and Education Group , Reconnect London and Edge Policy Network .

• 161 people joined our FEA strand at The Festival of Education at Wellington College where we co-led five sessions with FEA members and our Youth Steering Group, plus one-to-one sessions with people who were interested in our Awards.

• Our member Credit Suisse EMEA Foundation generously hosted a reception at the National Gallery in support of our work. The event showcased how government, philanthropy, civil society and young people can join forces to level up education so that every child and young person thrives. Nearly 100 attendees strengthened connections and increased collaboration across public, private and third sectors as a result.

• Following the publication of the Government’s Levelling Up strategy in February, we convened 32 people across two roundtables to share learnings from our members’ place-based initiatives and our new Ecosystem Map and agree on what is needed to level up communities across England.

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We increased diversity of leadership in education by investing in young people as co-leaders of our movement, and ensuring underrepresented groups are given platforms to lead change

• We empowered young people to participate in youth social action and make their voices heard within the FEA and the wider education sector. We recruited and trained 20 young people to our Youth Steering Group who influenced local and national policy and practice. Examples include interviewing The Children’s Commissioner at our Annual Summit, consulting with Ofsted on their strategy, responding to the government’s Post-18 proposals, hosting events on exams, cost of living and mental health and attending a meeting at 10 Downing Street.

• We built capacity to transform the sector’s youth engagement practice. We ran five workshops with 31 facilitators (half of whom were young people) on topics including youth governance, youth research and youth social action. 167 attendees from 105 organisations attended the five sessions. In addition, we delivered 20 one-to-one sessions to members to support and improve their youth engagement strategy.

• We received 68 applications to our Innovation and Intrapreneurship Awards in summer 2021 and selected nine winners. The diversity of our applicants was reflected in our winners. 49% of applicants and 56% of winners were from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds; 72% of applicants and 67% of winners were female. Looking at geography, 35% of applicants were based outside London, and the winning interventions covering all regions in England, with 22% of winners based outside London.

• 36 judges gave nearly 300 hours of their time to select our Award Winners. Of our 36 Awards judges, 39% (14) were from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds and 67% (24) were female. We also had three young people as judges.

We scaled initiatives systemically to tackle entrenched issues in the areas of greatest need

• We supported 16 Fair Education Award Winners with tailored 1:1 support, training, peer learning and funding to tackle entrenched issues, target the areas of greatest need and scale impactfully.

• After a year of support, our Award Winners:

• increased their reach by 19%, working with over half a million pupils

• increased their school partnerships by 73% working with over 2,300 schools; and

• increased their combined turnover by 34%, to nearly £13m

• Innovation and Intrapreneurship Award Winners received over 300 hours of support from the FEA and 21 experts. Scaling Award Winners received 335 hours of support from the FEA and 54 hours of brokered support from FEA members or our wider network.

• All Award Winners felt that the FEA’s support contributed to their progress. Five Award Winners felt their progress was largely the result of FEA support and 11 felt it was partly the result of FEA support.

• In terms of the significant areas of progress beyond increased reach and income:

• Scaling Award Winners developed their strategies, grew their teams, developed the capacity of existing staff, and increased impact.

• Innovation and Intrapreneurship Award Winners Award Winners increased their belief in themselves and their initiative, gained a better understanding of the problem they’re tackling and their approach, improved sales strategies, and established new partnerships.

14 Fair Education Alliance | Annual Report and Accounts 2021 – 2022

Future Plans

• Utilise the collective voice of our diverse membership to advocate for policy changes that prioritise narrowing the gap.

• Improve member organisations’ impact and sector collaboration through Collective Action Working Groups and our in-person Annual Summit.

– Launch our digital membership tools to help members and government target the areas of greatest need, and connect and collaborate to get there.

– Scale our Youth Engagement strategy to equip more young people with youth social action opportunities through the FEA Secretariat’s and our member’s activities.

• Recruit and support 13 Award Winners to start-up and scale to the areas of greatest need.

– Meet our voluntary income target through clear communication of our purpose and our impact.

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Feedback from our members

“The FEA’s work to influence policy is shining a light in the right places to start to tackle educational disadvantage.”

“We are a small delivery charity with opinions - membership of FEA allows us to amplify our voice and punch above our weight in terms of advocacy.”

“A fair education for all is a tough vision to achieve, but collaborations like the FEA are the only way of getting there!”

“We really appreciate having the opportunity to share our research, insights and recommendations with other FEA members. We also learn lots from the sharing of work being carried out by other organisations which informs and enhances our work. We have greater awareness of broader issues, challenges and potential solutions within the education system as a result of our engagement with the FEA.”

“The FEA demonstrates strong, trailblazing leadership through strategic positioning, clear messaging and network building. It aligns many voices into one.”

“Momentum is certainly growing and with more conversations with policymakers it’s clear to see that as a coalition we are being listened to.”

“The FEA is continually growing and sharing opportunities for organisations to collaborate, learn and improve best practice.”

16 Fair Education Alliance | Annual Report and Accounts 2021 – 2022

Financial Review

The Fair Education Alliance is committed to robust financial governance. Financial governance of the charity is led by the Co-CEOs who reports to the Board of Trustees on details of the financial strategy, reporting and risk at each Board meeting. The day-to-day accounting for 2021/22 was carried out internally with the Co-CEOs and Team Coordinator with the support of our Accountant.

In the year ended 31st August 2022, we had expenditure of £793,135. Please see the breakdown in the accounts for an outline of this in more detail.

We finished the year with a surplus of £105,329 of which £56,329 is reallocated to delayed expenditure that we will incur in 2022/23 and 2023/24. The remaining £49,000 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 31st August 2022 was £898,464 (£611,213 of which was unrestricted and £287,251 restricted), meeting our fundraising target. We would like to express our thanks to everyone that supported us in 2021/22. The Fair Education Alliance is hugely grateful to all our supporters who provide funding and valuable pro bono professional support: we would like to thank Allen & Overy, Barclays LifeSkills, Bloomberg, Credit Suisse, Fidelity UK Foundation, KPMG, Pears Foundation, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, St Johns Foundation, UBS, and Zing. This supports the charity’s financial sustainability and enables us to grow and support our members and networks across the country.

expenditure, this target amounts to maintaining reserves of approximately £230,000.

The charity’s free reserves at the end of its third year operation were £154,000. 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

Reserves Policy

The charity holds free reserves in order to:

• provide a safeguard against the risk of downturn in support of our activities (which could lead to expenditure exceeding income)

• provide working capital to finance day-to-day operations; and

• 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) to be built up over 5 years (2019/20 being Year 1; 2023/24 being Year 5). Per current

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-CEO’s 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.

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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 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 75% 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 31st August 2022 and outline the plans for the current financial year. The trustees have considered this matter and concluded that:

• The aims of the organisation continue to be charitable

• The aims and the work done give identifiable benefits to the charitable sector and both indirectly and directly to individuals in need

• The benefits are for the public, are not unreasonably restricted in any way and certainly not by ability to pay

• There is no detriment or harm arising from the aims or activities

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.

18 Fair Education Alliance | Annual Report and Accounts 2021 – 2022

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:

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

• make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;

• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.

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 31st August 2022 there were 8 members.

Declaration

This Trustees’ Annual Report on pages 7 – 19, including the Strategic Report on pages 12 – 16, is presented and approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on its behalf.

Signed:

Dr Vanessa Ogden Chair of the Board of Trustees

Date: 1 February 2023

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.

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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 year ended 31st August 2022 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Summary Income and Expenditure Account, the Balance Sheet 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 as a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

• accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 386 of the 2006 Act ; or

• the accounts do not accord with those records; or

• 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

• 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.

Signed:

Chris Conway

Multiply Accountancy 71-75 Shelton Street London WC2H 9JQ Date: 2nd February 2023

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:

20 Fair Education Alliance | Annual Report and Accounts 2021 – 2022

Financial Statements

Statement of Financial Activities (incorporating the Summary Income and Expenditure Account) for the year ended 31st August 2022

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Balance Sheet at 31st August 2022

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 ended 31 March 2022 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 1st February 2023. And signed on its behalf by:

Dr Vanessa Ogden Trustee

Company No. 11884952

Date: 1st February 2023

22 Fair Education Alliance | Annual Report and Accounts 2021 – 2022

Statement of Cash flows for the period ended 31st August 2022

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Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31st August 2022

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.

Going concern

The trustees have considered possible events or conditions that might cast significant doubt on the ability of the charitable company to continue as a going concern. The trustees have made this assessment for a period of at least one year from the date of the approval of these financial statements. In particular, the trustees have considered the charitable company’s forecasts and projections and have taken account of pressures on income

including the effect of Covid-19. After making enquiries, the trustees have concluded that there is a reasonable expectation that the charitable company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. The charitable company therefore continues to adopt the going concern basis in preparing its financial statements.

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.

24 Fair Education Alliance | Annual Report and Accounts 2021 – 2022

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	Where income has related expenditure the income and related expenditure is
related expenditure	reported gross in the SoFA.
Donations	Voluntary income received by way of grants, donations and gifts is included in the the
and legacies	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 gift/
donations and gifts	donation to which it relates.
Donated services	These are only included in income (with an equivalent amount in expenditure)
and facilities	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)	This includes any gain or loss resulting from revaluing investments to market value
on revaluation of	at the end of the year.
fixed assets
Gains/(losses)	This includes any gain or loss on the sale of investments.
on revaluation on
investment assets:

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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	These comprise the costs associated with attracting voluntary income,
raising funds	fundraising trading costs and investment management costs.
Expenditure on	These comprise the costs incurred by the Charity in the delivery of its activities
charitable 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.
Governance 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.

26 Fair Education Alliance | Annual Report and Accounts 2021 – 2022

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.

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.

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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

28 Fair Education Alliance | Annual Report and Accounts 2021 – 2022

5 Expenditure on charitable activities

6 Analysis of charitable expenditure

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7 Other expenditure

8 Net income before transfers

9 Staff costs

One employee received emoluments between £70,000-£80,000 (2021: 2). One employee received emoluments between £60,000-£70,000 (2021: none).

No trustees (2021: none) were reimbursed for expenses. No trustee received any remuneration in the year (2021: none).

Key management personnel comprise the Co-Chief Executive Officers as laid out on page 2. The total cost of employing the key management personnel was £163,049 (2021: £180,072). Included in this amount are total pension contributions of £7,688 (2021: £8,414).

The average number of staff employed, including part time staff was 10 (2021: 10).

30 Fair Education Alliance | Annual Report and Accounts 2021 – 2022

10 Tangible fixed assets

11 Debtors

12 Creditors; amounts falling due within one year

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13 Movement in funds

32 Fair Education Alliance | Annual Report and Accounts 2021 – 2022

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.

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 restricted fund

To support the direct staff and tool development costs for digital tools for targeting, connection and collaboration.

Membership Tools designated fund

To cover support staff costs for creating the 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

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”.

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.

14 Analysis of net assets between funds

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15 Statement of Financial Activities

(incorporating the Summary Income and Expenditure Account) for the period ended 31st August 2021

34 Fair Education Alliance | Annual Report and Accounts 2021 – 2022

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