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2023-08-31-accounts

Brighter Together

Connecting the old and young to shine brighter together

Brighter Together Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending 31[st] August 2023

17 Trowlock Avenue, Teddington, TW11 9QT

Contents

From the Chair.......................................................................................3

Registered Charity 1190557

Brighter Together

Connecting the old and young to shine brighter together

Charitable Aims and Objectives..............................................................4 How we deliver our aims and objectives..................................................4 Summary of Activity...............................................................................5 Impact..................................................................................................6 Fundraising Activity.............................................................................12 Financial Review..................................................................................13 Structure, Governance and Management...............................................14 Future Plans and Aims..........................................................................15 Legal and Administrative Details..........................................................16 Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Brighter Together.......18 Statement of financial activities...........................................................18 Balance sheet......................................................................................20 Notes to the Accounts..........................................................................21

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Brighter Together

Connecting the old and young to shine brighter together

From the Chair

Welcome to our 2022-23 annual report. This has been a bumper year in many ways, not least because this report covers 18-months rather than the normal 12 due to a change in our financial year. But, most importantly because we have returned in full to delivering support for older people and children, and begun work to expand our reach. When visiting a session this year, I was reminded of just how powerful our partnerships are, and how vitally important it is to build relationships between generations. Seeing first-hand the joy felt by all participants as they took part in singing, crafts and sharing food demonstrated the continued need for our work, and the power of our partnerships. On behalf of the trustees, I can only thank the nursery and care home teams that we work, and our own session facilitators who are critical to our success. And beyond all of that, a special thanks to our Founder, Polly van Marken, who continues her tireless efforts to build this incredible organisation and deliver so much joy and benefit.

As we reflect on the year, it is fair to say that there have been some challenges. The funding environment remains tough, and ensuring that we not only have the resources to continue to deliver on our current commitments, but also seek to expand is a seemingly never-ending job. I am incredibly grateful to everyone who has supported us this year, including the companies who have donated time and expertise alongside our funders. A special mention to the Betty Messenger Foundation, who awarded us a core funding grant which has enabled us to unlock further investment. This is providing us with a foundation to expand and strengthen our core team, who will lead the charge in developing new partnerships in new areas in the coming year. It’s fair to say 2022-23 has been about laying foundations and I am excited to see the fruits of that work into 2023-24.

Alongside that, we have continued to deliver a high-quality programme and trial new opportunities which we will be rolling our across our partnerships. The excitement of running our first intergenerational play has only enhanced how we can support the building of impactful relationships between older and younger people. I sadly was unable to attend the first performance, but the feedback received from all those participating. It was great to partner with Amanda Root to deliver this, and we are grateful for support from the National Lottery to help make it happen. Suffice to say, I am greatly anticipating performances this year.

The coming year looks to be a pivotal one in Brighter Together’s journey, and I cannot be prouder of the team in making this happen. We know that our programme improves the health and wellbeing of our older participants, whilst empowering them to help develop and support the children, which positively affects their perspectives of older people. We are eager to bring these benefits to more people, and look forward to taking the step in that journey in the coming year.

Andy Melia (Chair of Trustees)

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Charitable Aims and Objectives

Brighter Together connects two vulnerable groups: those in care homes or day centres, and pre-school children. They participate in shared activities, which tackles social isolation and improves social and emotional wellbeing for all participants.

Our aims are to specifically:

Our programme gives vulnerable older adults a purpose and responsibility. By bringing a group of young children into their lives on a regular basis to participate in structured nursery activities, our older participants share in the children’s development and create strong relationships that will have a mutual benefit.

Within the care homes, day centres, and nursery schools, Brighter Together aims to work with those who will receive the most benefit from the project. The selection criteria are:

How we deliver our aims and objectives

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Our intergenerational programme connects a care home or day centre with a local nursery school who are then referred to as our ‘partners’. The aim is to create a consistent partnership that will be maintained for a full academic year at a minimum. Our partners work with us to select the group of older adults and children who will benefit from being part of the programme, based on the criteria in the table above.

We aim to maximise the benefit from the time that the children and older adults spend together. To do that, we are rigorous about our programme planning which is built around the following four aspects:

Bespoke training – Brighter Together Session Facilitators and Pre-school practitioners leading or supporting the sessions are provided with professional training on intergenerational learning, how to best engage with older people, working in the care home environment and accredited dementia training.

Summary of Activity

This report covers a longer reporting period than usual as we changed our financial year to align with the academic year. As a result, this report covers the period 1[st] April 2022 to 31[st] August 2023. This change will support us in managing our future operations and financial planning.

During this period, Brighter Together has delivered 4 academic terms of weekly intergenerational projects, working with a total of 13 project partners and supporting 72 older adults and 111 early years children, positively impacting their social and emotional wellbeing as well as boosting physical health and the children’s development (as measured against the Early Years Foundation Stage characteristics of effective learning).

In addition to our weekly programme, we also pioneered a new project working with a group of actors and an acclaimed playwright to deliver an intergenerational play.

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This culminated in a community performance involving older people and children in May 2023 and was a huge success in improving wellbeing, providing purpose and giving those involved a sense of value. We have taken the learnings and content from this performance and to create a new performance-based element to our programme which we will be rolling out across four of our projects during 2024.

Our model of using trained Session Facilitators to deliver our programme has gone from strength to strength this year. During the summer of 2022, we did an in-depth assessment of our growth plans and evaluated our current operating model and two alternatives to ensure we have the most suitable foundations in place to support our expansion. This assessment included conducting stakeholder interviews and an evaluating organisations using alternative models/ We came away from this process with an undisputed conclusion that our current method using Session Facilitators provides the highest quality of programme with the greatest impact for beneficiaries and that our partners highly valued this and was the reason they were keen to continue working with us.

We’ve been delighted that throughout this period, we have been able to deliver our programme in-person. We’ve worked closely with all our partners throughout to align with their safety procedures. However, it has been of great benefit to be able to meet weekly in-person at every care home or day centre and we have seen enormous benefit to our participants. Being in-person has been particularly important in supporting the children as these were children who had experienced the isolation of lockdown at a very young age, which studies have already shown has had a negative impact on children’s development. As the case studies in this report show, some of these children faced significant communication challenges and our programme has been instrumental in boosting their development in speech and language skills as well as confidence in interacting with others.

Outputs:

Impact

We’ve been delighted to be able to deliver all our sessions during this period inperson. This has undoubtedly been a key determiner of our strong impact results. However, we used a lot of our learnings and development for our online sessions to strengthen our in-person offer. Some of the activities and games we created for our zoom sessions had wonderful benefits, such as improving physical activity, and we were able to weave these aspects into our in-person programme to provide even more benefit to participants.

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During this period we also refined our impact measurement processes. We are now using a triangulation method which uses not only Leuven scale observations during sessions, but considers this alongside assessments and observations from nursery/care home/day centre staff and also questionnaires from parents, family members or friends who visit our older adult participants on a regular basis. This has helped us develop a wider picture of how our programme is supporting both the adults and children involved both inside and outside of our sessions.

Impact for Older Adults

All of care home and day centre partners said that the sessions made a significant contribution to older adults on the programme across all 3 areas assessed: social wellbeing; emotional wellbeing; and physical health.

Testimonials

“ Brighter Together changes our clients lives and self-perception; they feel needed and important. The client’s joy and happiness can be seen in their behaviour, conversations, and mood. They can’t wait for the next session.”

Agnes Lozowska, Health Care Assistant, Homelink Day Respite Care Centre.

“The staff connects more to the residents while they are assisting them in the activities. They get to know our residents in a better way. They discover their likes, dislikes, and their thoughts on different areas of life. This gives them a better understanding of each resident and improves the person-centred care we can offer.”

Titi, Manager, Nightingale House Care Home.

Case Studies – Older Adults

Terry – Homelink Client:

“My Father Terry very much looks forward to his weekly visit to Homelink He loves his time there very much but the highlight for him without question is his time with the little children on the Brighter Together scheme.

Dad has no Grandchildren but as an ex-Beaver Leader he has a great affinity with children who also seem to gravitate to him. The scheme brings sunshine into his life and a big smile on his face. With vascular dementia he sadly cannot remember

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much, but every Tuesday when he wakes up he is already talking about getting to Homelink as he believes he is their teacher. His time with the children brings back purpose to his life. When he returns his eyes are bright and he has an even bigger smile on his face as he recalls what he has been doing with the children in the session.

Dad takes great pride in everything that he makes in the session and he says with joy that he made it with one of the children. We keep a box of all that he has made and he likes to show them off to my older sister when she FaceTimes every week from Australia. His bulb still takes pride of place in the kitchen.

The scheme does so much for Dad and his self-worth which has taken a knock with his dementia. It also makes Mum and myself so happy to see Dad enjoying his time with the little ones.

As a family we would very much like to thank Brighter Together for everything you do for Dad and all the older people who get so much out of their time with the children.”

Denise Drury - Terry Drury’s youngest daughter and carer.

Maggie – Resident at The Pines:

“Maggie had a cerebrovascular event and the children welcoming her back to the group was extremely important to her recovery. The children mean the world to her. Maggie has been so unwell and the children have encouraged her to take part and she is smiling again.

For all the residents in the group, our Thursday Brighter Together sessions are a highlight of the week. They give a sense of purpose and having a fixed engagement in the diary is so important – our diary at The Pines focuses around Thursday afternoons! This programme greatly reduces loneliness, boredom and helplessness. Even for those residents not involved, they love the arrival and departure of the children and all the playfulness and chaos it brings! The residents react so warmly to the children, it’s been amazing. The staff also love the sessions as much as the residents. It has added a new dimension to our lives here.” Heather Said, Manager, The Pines.

Impact for Children

All of our nursery schools said that the sessions made a significant contribution to the children across the 3 areas of social and emotional wellbeing, and development.

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Testimonials

“The Brighter Together Programme is a valued and enriching programme for the nursery as a whole, as it connects our children to the greater community and helps them to establish empathetic understanding and sensitivity to those around them. Participating in this programme is a way that the nursery demonstrates our commitment to facilitating these types of connections and understandings for the children. In addition, the programme affords the nursery an additional learning opportunity outside of the nursery and classroom environment which aligns with the objectives of our holistic learning. Each opportunity that there is to bring another member of staff along for the care home visits, we have an influx of teachers asking to join. It is clear that the teachers are eager to get the opportunity to witness the special connections present in the Brighter Together visits. The two members of staff who consistently facilitate the visits are expats who do not have family nearby, and so this has been so lovely to participate in. We love to watch special connections being built!”

Ren, Head of Room, Greenwood Twickenham Nursery.

“We have been exceptionally happy with the collaboration we have had with Brighter Together in our setting. All of our children have thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and each week we have multiple children wishing to join us to visit Homelink Day Care Centre. We feel we have benefitted greatly from our partnership with Brighter Together and Homelink as it helps us to make connections throughout our community and create opportunities for our parents and children to do the same. We find our parents love the sessions and have spoken very positively about their children’s experiences with the group.”

Katie Tidy, Head of Pre-School, Twickenham Day Nursery.

Case Studies – Children

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Child A – Twickenham Day Nursery

“Child A is incredibly shy and can become very upset when taken out of the nursery setting or when trying something new. At first Child A was not willing to attend and became very upset when asked. Each week when their friends returned from the group, we discussed the lovely activities which they had done and the residents which they had met to help Child A feel more familiar with a new environment.

One morning Child A was willing to attend with a familiar adult. Their first session they were unsure and stayed close to their familiar adult and at times became upset. The child’s parents mentioned that when they returned home, they spoke very positively about their visit and were keen to visit again. The following week Child A felt more confident during the session and felt able to join in more with the activities. Throughout the term Child A became more and more involved fully enjoying the activities and speaking with some of the residents. Child A felt very proud each time they returned from the sessions and has spoken very positively with both staff and parents about their experiences with Katy our group leader at the Homelink sessions.”

Katie Tidy, Room Leader Pre-school, Twickenham Day Nursery.

Child B – Twickenham Day Nursery:

“Child B is a very curious child but can find communication tricky with unfamiliar adults. At first the child was unwilling to attend the session as they felt unsure about leaving the nursery environment. They attended alongside a familiar adult and Katy was absolutely wonderful taking her time to allow them the chance to communicate fully. She allowed them to bring along a train toy which is a particular fascination and made them feel more comfortable joining in. During each weekly activity, Katy adapted it slightly for the child, linking it to trains and we found as the sessions went on the child was confident to attend without their toy and to speak about a variety of subjects from the beach to football matches they had attended with family. Throughout the sessions I watched as the child grew in both confidence and he was able to communicate really well with one of the residents who he became good friends with throughout the sessions. Child B talked regularly to their parents and teachers about “visiting the granny and grandads” and asks if we are going each time they join us at the nursery. They adored their time at the Homelink sessions and their parents are very keen to stay in contact with the group even after leaving the nursery and going off to big school as they found the sessions so valuable for their child.”

Katie Tidy, Room Leader Pre-school, Twickenham Day Nursery.

Child C – Greenwood Nursery:

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‘A child who doesn’t have any family in the UK other than his mum, joined in our care home visits and immediately opened up emotionally. He was so engaged and evidently happy about being amongst grandparent-like figures.’

Ren, Greenwood Nursery Practitioner.

Additional Programme Evaluation:

We were fortunate to have Abby Latham, Occupational Therapy Student from London Southbank University (LSBU) with us on placement from April – June 2022. Part of Abby’s work with Brighter Together was to help evaluate our programme.

Firstly, we were interested to understand how intergenerational activities affected the engagement of residents in comparison to non-intergenerational activities. Abby assessed and mapped the engagement of the residents across the course of an hour-long session.

Each resident was observed throughout the session at 2 minute intervals, to see if they were engaging with an appropriate interaction with the environment – e.g. joining in with singing a song, or actively involved during a craft activity.

The results showed that residents were engaged or expressive between 62% and 83% of the session.

----- Start of picture text -----
This compares to
observations of
residents in
care homes showing
engagement as little as 25% of the time
----- End of picture text -----

outside intergenerational activities and 49% during activities without children present (Xaverius and Matthews, 2004). This really sees a marked upturn in engagement during intergenerational sessions; resident 4 was engaged for 50mins out of the hour which is quite a remarkable difference to other non-intergenerational activities.

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Abby then used this information to map engagement against each aspect of the session to analyse what part of the sessions are most beneficial.

For this, each resident was given a score of ‘1’ when engagement and/or expression was shown. Each resident was given a score of 0 when disengagement or lack of expression was shown. Scores were then given for each observation point, 4 where all 4 residents were engaged, down to 0 where no residents were engaged.

You can see across the graph engagement rises and falls throughout a session – probably what you’d expect given the participants, what’s included and the fact that 60 minutes is quite an ambitious length of time for both the adults and the children.

It’s very interesting when you map this against different elements of the session, so

we really see the importance and benefit of including music – where engagement really peaks during the welcome song, the second circle time music and the goodbye song. Equally the engagement during the activity is strong.

We see engagement drop during tidy-up time and following conversations during the first circle time. Which could be when we’re explaining the task.

This knowledge has given us lots of food for thought in how we can improve engagement during those periods, for instance, not overloading participants with the outcome of an activity or all the steps to complete the activity and instead just focusing on the next thing they need to do.

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Fundraising Activity

The total income for the period 1[st ] April 2022 – 31[st] August 2023 was £58,366.13.

We were successful in fundraising at some local summer fetes. Additionally, a small amount of funding has come from fundraising via the local Get Lucky Local lottery, Amazon Smile and Givey, the online giving platform.

Funders

Brighter Together is extremely grateful to the following funders for the generous support they gave in 2022-23:

Pro-bono Support

During this year we have been incredibly fortunate to have benefitted from the very kind support of some forward-thinking organisations and their dedicated and talented staff. These include:

Volunteer Support

Our work is dependent upon volunteer support and during this year all our operational requirements (such as accounting, marketing, and human resources) have been carried out by our Founder on a voluntary basis. For this reporting period, this voluntary activity equates to 56 days. Using the equivalent day rate, this equates to £12,082.

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Financial Review

Our total income for the year was £58,366.13. This was our third operating year, covering 17 months. Expenditure totalled £40,225.75. Our net surplus was £18,140.38. The surplus mainly equates to restricted grant funding received during the 2022-23 financial year for the delivery of our play across 4 projects during 202324 and funding which has been designated for salaries during the 2023-24 year.

Income consisted of a mix of grants and donations from multiple sources and provided sufficient resources to enable Brighter Together to deliver activities in line with our charitable aims and objectives. Trustees continually review our funding and income plans to secure further financial resources necessary to deliver our programme.

Expenditure

We have allocated the costs of delivering our sessions to ‘direct costs’. These account for 93% of our expenditure.

‘Core costs’ account for 7% of our expenditure and include:

Risk Assessment

Trustees have identified financial sustainability as the biggest risk to Brighter Together, which underpins many other identified risks. Ensuring long-term funding will enable the charity to effectively embed the progress we have made so far, and trustees and our Founder continue to explore funding partnerships and grants to secure this. Alongside this, trustees have developed mitigation plans, including

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alternative funding sources and the use of volunteers, to ensure continuity of service provision in the event funding bids are not successful in the short-term.

Reserves Policy

The trustees of Brighter Together aim to maintain free reserves in unrestricted funds at a level which equates to approximately three months of unrestricted charitable expenditure. The trustees consider that this level will provide sufficient funds to be able to invest in the development of either our services or the reach of our programme if there is an opportunity to do so, as well as ensure that support and governance costs are covered.

The level of financial reserves will be reviewed when any major changes occur, for instance where Terms and Conditions from funders are updated or if we employ a member of staff on salary.

Going Concern

Trustees are confident that Brighter Together remains a Going Concern. Brighter Together has levels of reserves that are in accordance with our reserves policy, of maintaining free reserves in unrestricted funds at a level which equates to approximately three months of unrestricted charitable expenditure.

In addition, there is enough restricted funding for the continuation of our charitable activities for at least the next 6 months, and enough unrestricted funding to support any other charitable requirements that are not directly related to the services we provide. This is in accordance with the charities’ reserves policy.

Structure, Governance and Management

Status and Governing Document

Brighter Together is a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation), registered charity number 1190557. Its governing document is a Constitution and Registered Charitable status was granted on 24[th] July 2020.

Charity

The Trustees have adopted the provisions of the Charities SORP (FRS 102) in preparing the annual report and accounts. The accounts comply with the Charities Act 2011.

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Governance and Internal Control

The day-to-day activities of the Charity are monitored by the Trustees. Board meetings are held on a quarterly basis at a minimum.

Future Plans and Aims

2022-23 was a key year for Brighter Together, as we solidified our approach and built our strategy for growth. Finding funding to support this has proved to be our biggest challenge, but we were delighted to receive support from the Betty Messenger Foundation, which has given us a foundation to engage other funders. As the year closed, we received confirmation of two-years of funding from City Bridge Foundation, which will enable us to recruit a new Head of Programmes role alongside a Chief Executive, who will be responsible for our programme expansion.

Consequently, the coming year is very much focussed on growth, in line with our commitments to City Bridge Foundation. We plan to:

  1. Double the number of partnerships we are supporting

  2. Expand our delivery to a third borough

  3. Focus expansion to areas of greatest need, using multiple metrics to identify these

  4. Develop our plan for further growth and identify funders to support this

We are incredibly grateful for the support we have received excited by the potential for greater impact as we expand our work

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Legal and Administrative Details

Registered name and address

Brighter Together, 17 Trowlock Avenue, Teddington, TW11 9QT.

Registered charity number

Trustees Board

Since Brighter Together was formally constituted on 24[th] July 2020, all the following Trustees have remained on the Board:

Andrew Melia (Chair) – reappointed July 2022

Dr Susan Allingham – reappointed July 2023

Parita Doshi – reappointed July 2021

Bankers

Reliance Bank Limited, Faith House, 23-24 Lovat Lane, London EC3R 8EB.

Statement of Trustees Responsibilities

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards. The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the Charity for that period.

In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

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The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Charity’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with charity law. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and hence to take reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the Charity and financial information included in the Charity’s website.

This report was approved by the Trustees, and signed on their behalf by:

…………………………..

Andrew Melia

Chair of Trustees Date: 21[st] March 2024

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Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Brighter Together

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Brighter Together for the period ended 31 August 2023.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of Brighter Together you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of Brighter Together’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner’s statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of Brighter Together as required by section 130 of the Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or

  3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 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.

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:

Muntazir Hadadi FCA

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5 Cumberland Close, St Margarets, Twickenham, TW1 1RS

Date: 14 March 2024

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Statement of financial activities

BRIGHTER TOGETHER STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR YEAR ENDED 31ST AUGUST 2023

Restricted
Unrestricted income Endowment Total Prior year
funds funds funds funds funds
£ £ £ £ £
Income and endowments from:
Donations and legacies 28,662 294 - 28,956 6,511
Charitable activities 10,970 18,734 - 29,704 29,361
Other - - - - 34
Total 39,632 19,028 - 58,660 35,906
Resources expended (Note 6)
Expenditure on:
Raising funds 2,506 - - 2,506 209
Charitable activities 12,508 25,506 - 38,014 23,018
Total 15,014 25,506 - 40,520 23,227
Net income/(expenditure) 24,618 (6,478) - 18,140 12,679
before investment
gains/(losses)
Net gains/(losses) on investments - - - - -
Net income/(expenditure) 24,618 (6,478) - 18,140 12,679
Net movement in funds 24,618 (6,478) - 18,140 12,679
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward 7,843 15,835 - 23,678 10,999
Total funds carried forward 32,461 9,357 - 41,818 23,678

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Balance sheet

Notes
Fixed Assets
Tangible Assets
Computer Equipment
Current Assets
Cash in Bank
5
Debtors
TOTAL Assets
Creditors
Current Liabilities
6
TOTAL
Net Current Assets
Total Assets Less Current
Liabilities
Net Assets
Funds of the Charity
7
Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds
TOTAL FUNDS		 As at 31st August
2023
As at 31st
March 2022
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£42,663.42
£27,348.62
£0.00
£0.00
£42,663.42
£27,348.62
£845.00
£3,670.58
£41,818.42
£23,678.04
£41,818.42
£23,678.04
£41,818.42
£23,678.04
£32,461.19
£7,843.01
£9,357.23
£15,835.04
£41,818.42
£23,678.04

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Notes to the Accounts

Note 1 – Basis of preparation

1.1 Basis of accounting

These accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items recognised at cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant note(s) to these accounts.

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued on 16 July 2014 and with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and with the Charities Act 2011.

The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102.

1.2 Going concern

Brighter Together has levels of reserves that are in accordance with our reserves policy, of maintaining free reserves in unrestricted funds at a level which equates to approximately three months of unrestricted charitable expenditure. Our free reserves currently stand at £5,846.42.

In addition, there is enough restricted and designated funding for the continuation of our charitable activities, including salaries, for at least the next 6 months.

1.3 Change of accounting policy

The accounts present a true and fair view.

1.3.1 Change of financial reporting period

This financial reporting period covers seventeen months from 1 April 2022 to 31 August 2023. As such, the amounts presented in the accounts are not comparable as a year-on-year basis with FY2021-22.

Trustees have agreed to adjust the financial reporting period to bring it in line with our operating year, which runs from 1 September to 31 August (reflecting the school year). This was agreed at the board meeting on 25 April 2022, and notified to the Charity Commission in line with the rules for Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIO)

As a CIO, trustees have the power to change Brighter Together's financial reporting period. It cannot be changed again for another three years.

1.4 Changes to accounting estimates

No changes to accounting estimates have occurred in the reporting period.

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1.5 Material prior year errors

No material prior year errors have been identified in the reporting period.

Note 2 – Accounting policies

2.1 Income

All income is included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when the charity becomes entitled to the resources; it is more likely than not that the trustees will receive the resources; and the monetary value can be measured with sufficient reliability.

Grants and donations are only included in the SoFA when the general income recognition criteria are met (5.10 to 5.12 FRS102 SORP). In the case of performance related grants, income must only be recognised to the extent that the charity has provided the specified goods or services as entitlement to the grant only occurs when the performance related conditions are met (5.16 FRS 102 SORP).

Brighter Together has not received government grants in the reporting period.

Contractual income and performance related grants are only included in the SoFA once the charity has provided the related goods or services or met the performance related conditions.

Brighter Together has incurred expenditure on support costs.

The value of any voluntary help received is not included in the accounts but is described in the trustees’ annual report.

2.3 Expenditure and liabilities

Liabilities are recognised where it is more likely than not that there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to pay out resources and the amount of the obligation can be measured with reasonable certainty.

Support costs have been allocated between governance costs and other support. Governance costs comprise all costs involving public accountability of the charity and its compliance with regulation and good practice.

Support costs include central functions and have been allocated to activity cost categories on a basis consistent with the use of resources, e.g., allocating property costs by floor areas, or per capita, staff costs by the time spent and other costs by their usage.

The charity accounts for basic financial instruments on initial recognition as per paragraph 11.7 FRS102 SORP. Subsequent measurement is as per paragraphs 11.17 to 11.19, FRS102 SORP.

2.4 Assets

Brighter Together has no assets.

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Brighter Together rtyh*#rTt￿k4 Connecting the old and young to shine brighter together 25

Brighter Together

Connecting the old and young to shine brighter together

Note 3 – Analysis of Income

Note 3.1 – Donated goods, facilities and services

Note 3.1 – Donated goods, facilities and services facilities and services
Use of property
Other
Seconded staff		 This year
Last year
£
£
- -
294 -
- -
294 -

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Brighter Together

Connecting the old and young to shine brighter together

Note 4 – Analysis of expenditure

The figures for analysis of expenditure on charitable activities for FY21-22 (last year) have been corrected to reflect that no grant funding was given and that all activities were undertaken directly.

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Brighter Together

Connecting the old and young to shine brighter together

Note 5 – Cash at bank and in hand

----- Start of picture text -----
This year Last year
£ £
- -
Short term cash investments (less than 3 months maturity date)
- -
Short term deposits
42,66 27,34
Cash at bank and on hand 3 8
Other - -
42,66 27,34
Total 3 8
----- End of picture text -----

Note 6 – Creditors and accruals

----- Start of picture text -----
Amounts falling due Amounts falling due
within one year after more than one year
This year Last year This year Last year
£ £ £ £
Accruals and deferred
income 845 3,671 - -
Other creditors - - - -
3,67
Total 845 1 - -
----- End of picture text -----

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Brighter Together

Connecting the old and young to shine brighter together

Note 7 – Funds of the charity

We have ended this financial year with a higher amount of cash at bank due to a one-off exceptional grant of £25,000 from Betty Messenger Foundation, which has been designated to support our growth plans for FY 23-25. The remainder is funding carried forward for project delivery and reserves.

Note 8 – Events after the end of the reporting period

Since the end of the financial year, Brighter Together has received funding to expand the programme to benefit more older adults and early years children. Much of our funding has been designated to provide salaries for two employees who will work on scaling our programme. Their focus will be to reach more beneficiaries whilst ensuring the quality of our programme remains high and putting in place robust systems, practices, and procedures so that Brighter Together as an organisation is fit for purpose.

Note 9 – Transaction with trustees and related parties

None of the trustees have been paid any renumeration or received any other benefits from an employment with their charity or related entity.

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