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2024-08-31-accounts

Bournemouth Spear Trust

Annual Report and Financial Statements Financial Year 4 – 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024

Contents Page number
Annual report 2 to 10
Independent Examiner’s report 11
Statement of Financial Accounts 12

Bournemouth Spear Trust

Annual Report and Financial Statements

Financial Year 1[st] September 2023 to 31[st] August 2024

Bournemouth Spear Trust is a registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation (number 1191197).

Principal and registered office: St Swithun’s Church, Gervis Road, Bournemouth, BH1 3ED

Telephone: 01202 241077

Email: hello@spearbournemouth.org

During the year, the following served as trustees of the charity:

Bankers: CAF Bank Ltd, 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent, ME19 4JQ

Independent Examiner: Sue Wintle, 27 Bascott Road, Wallisdown, Bournemouth, Dorset BH11 8RJ

Structure, Governance and Management

Bournemouth Spear Trust (BST) is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and is governed by a Board of Trustees who hold regular meetings. The Board is made up of people living or working locally to Bournemouth. During this financial period, the trustees, chaired by Mr Jonathan Pascall, met on 8 occasions. Topics discussed and addressed by the trustees, included finances, fundraising, staffing, strategic planning and partnership arrangements with Resurgo and Lovechurch.

Any person who is willing to act as a trustee and who would not be disqualified from acting, may be appointed to be a trustee by a decision of the trustees. There are no specific BST policies or procedures relating to the induction and training of trustees. However, in practice, trustees with relevant knowledge, skills or experience are appointed, for the effective administration of the charity.

Any decision of the trustees must be either by decision of a majority of the trustees present and voting at a quorate trustees’ meeting, or when the majority of trustees have indicated to all the trustees by any means (including email) that they share a common view on a matter.

Day-to-day decision-making relating to BST’s specific charitable activities is delegated to Trustees with relevant knowledge, skills and experience working in collaboration with BST staff appointed to oversee these activities.

The trustees have reviewed the major risks to which the charity is exposed and systems or procedures have been established to manage those risks. In particular, the charity has documented procedures and policies with regards to finance, safeguarding, health and safety and other matters.

BST looks to learn from and work in partnership with other organisations with experience relevant to its charitable activities. In particular, since its formation in September 2020, it has worked closely with Resurgo Trust. Resurgo Trust is a charity founded through St Paul’s Church in Hammersmith in 2003. Resurgo aims to stimulate significant social transformation in local communities by helping people facing serious social disadvantage to transform their situation. In particular, among its activities, it has developed the Spear programme for young people. Resurgo continues to provide BST staff with extensive training, ongoing support and course materials to enable them to conduct the Spear programme.

Key Relationships

BST believes that relationships are critical to its continuing success. BST’s staff provide continuing skill and dedication in developing fruitful relationships in the community to support the work of Spear. Lovechurch provides invaluable support via the expertise and time of its staff and members, as well as donated office space. Lovechurch has provided donated training space since Spear moved from initially being presented online during the Covid-19 pandemic to being presented in person with effect from September 2021. The generosity of BST’s corporate and local authority partners, volunteers and individual donors is hugely appreciated, as well as their connections into job opportunities for the young people on the Spear programme.

Public Benefit

The trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have regard to the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit. The trustees regard BST’s activities as manifestly for the public benefit in that there is an identifiable benefit to local young people, as described in this report.

Objectives and Activities

Bournemouth Spear Trust is a charity set up by members of the congregation of Lovechurch, and based at St Swithun’s Church, Bournemouth to tackle youth unemployment in the Bournemouth Christchurch Poole area.

Although the Spear programme is non-proselytising, BST trustees are motivated by the desire to turn faith into practical action by living out God’s love for people who are in need and marginalised. BST serves individuals and works with organisations of any beliefs to bring about transformation in the community, believing that everyone has the right to dignity in society, development of their skills, a chance to work, and hope for the future.

The object of the charity, as set out in its Governing Document, is:

…for the benefit of the public and within a Christian ethos, to act as a resource for young people between the ages of 16 to 24 living in Bournemouth Christchurch Poole by providing advice, assistance and support and organising educational programmes and other activities as a means of:

Spear Bournemouth supports young people facing the most challenging barriers to work, including educational failure, a criminal record and poor mental health. Beginning with six weeks of coaching run by friendly and experienced coaches, the trainees are led through a series of work-readiness topics, with a strong emphasis on attitudinal and soft skills coaching, alongside practical training such as writing a good CV and mock interview practice. These six weeks are followed by twelve months of support for each candidate to help them find a job and succeed in work.

The Spear work readiness indicators are:

To achieve its objective, BST has maintained a strong relationship with its partner Resurgo to raise adequate funding, to recruit and retain suitably qualified and trained staff, and to publicise the work of BST and the Spear programme.

BST has used existing relationships in and around Lovechurch, and instigated new relationships with local authority agencies and businesses in Bournemouth Christchurch Poole, to grow a strong volunteer base and continuing financial support.

BST employs three staff at its Spear Centre, each with a background in youth work, training and education for young people. They receive regular training from Resurgo. The relationship with Resurgo is further strengthened through regular formal and informal meetings between individual BST trustees and Resurgo staff.

In order to identify young people most in need of the Spear Programme, Bournemouth Spear works in partnership with local referrers. This includes publicising the courses directly at local Job Centres and also to local service professionals such as targeted youth support teams, youth justice and social services, charities, hostels, apprenticeship providers, education providers and organisations who can make referrals. Local business, civic and charitable figures are invited to the Spear Celebration events held at the end of each programme, many of whom attend and subsequently have championed Spear, referred young people to the programme, volunteered on the programme or provided financial support.

BST looks to make as extensive use of volunteers as possible in its activities, as we believe that there are rich opportunities for mutual benefit. Volunteers are particularly valued as mock interviewers of course participants, guests at the external panel, hosts for company visits or work experience placements and facilitators for Spear Alpha, which commenced during 2023 for any past and present trainees who wish to attend.

Youth Employment UK recently released the Youth Voice Census 2024, the largest dataset of youth voice and insight in the UK, exploring the perspectives of more than 5,000 young people. The results are sobering, but reinforce why the work of Spear is so vital.

Some of the hard-hitting findings include that:

The silver lining is that once young people get into work, they report finding it a welcoming and positive experience.

You can read the report in full here: https://www.youthemployment.org.uk/youth-voicecensus/results/

In light of this kind of context, along with the achievements and performance recorded in the next section, Trustees feel confident of the importance and value of continuing to support young people through Spear into year 5, even though it is becoming increasingly difficult to secure funding through grants or other avenues.

Achievements and Performance

Bournemouth Spear Trust prides itself on providing transformative training for the young people on our programmes, and delivering impressive results. In June 2024, the 20[th] Bournemouth Spear celebration took place, and 256 young people have now participated in Spear Foundation courses delivered by BST since April 2021.

BST ran six Spear programmes during this financial period (1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024). The total number of participants on these courses was 92, of whom 74 (80%) successfully completed the programme. Recent follow up indicates that over 78% of Spear graduates who undertook the course in summer 2023 are still in work or education a year later.

A groundbreaking benchmarking study in 2019, the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) study, concluded that Spear trainees were over three times more likely to be in work or education three months after the programme compared to a control group.

In 2022, because of the high quality of data collected, Resurgo were approached to have the Spear programme evaluated by the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Employment Data Lab. Using key identifying information, alongside data from the DWP, the Department for Education and HMRC, the Data Lab team were able to track the NEET outcomes two years later of 954 trainees who took part in the Spear Programme alongside a comparison group made up of real-life individuals on the DWP database. (The study included those who dropped off Spear or were asked to leave,

meaning the results are a true reflection, not positively skewed). The study revealed taking part in the Spear Programme reduces the likelihood of being NEET by 20% after a year. The results concluded if all NEET young people received support as effective as Spear, their number could be reduced by 130,000 which could fill more than 10% of the vacancies in the economy.

These impact studies demonstrate that there is a significant difference in the long-term prospects of someone who does Spear compared to someone who doesn’t, and this isn’t happening by chance. This verification of Spear’s effectiveness gives BST even more confidence moving into Spear Bournemouth’s fifth year. You can read the full impact report here 2023-Impact-Report.pdf (resurgo.org.uk) , which includes these outcomes:

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An example of the transformative power of Spear is a young person who completed the second ever Spear programme in Bournemouth in 2021. She contacted the Centre Manager to say how grateful she was for Spear; she is working full-time for a great company in London and she, her mother and brother have been able to move house as a result.

Spear Alpha commenced in July 2023, and continues for any current or past trainees who wish to attend. Numbers have grown steadily with up to 12 young people attending this weekly evening facilitated by volunteers from Lovechurch. Following attendance at Spear Alpha, a number of these young people have become active members of the Lovechurch community.

Bournemouth Spear in the words of those who have participated in and supported the programme during the year:

I'm very thankful for SPEAR for giving me a confidence boost and pushing me forward as I know the me at the start of this year was too scared and afraid to make the first steps. All the thanks to SPEAR and your support :) time really flew by (trainee email to coaches)

I am particularly impressed at how you as coaches, adapt to each group of trainees. I have interviewed a number of times and, just as each group has a very unique feel, so too does your approach to them (volunteer mock interviewer feedback)

We are not just ready for work. We are actually ready to start making long-lasting, sustainable changes in our lives and in the lives of the people around us. We are ready to take full responsibility for ourselves (Bournemouth trainee feedback to impact research)

What a special Spear celebration that was! From the Trust Chair's deep commitment shared in the welcome, through heart-melting trainee stories and interviews and affirmations, to the Centre Manager's brilliant wrap-up ... all book-ended by the amazing Wessex Chorus (with world-class chocolate brownies made by a former trainee) and another former trainee's DJ set, it was just the most precious, joyous evening! God bless everyone involved in this wonderful endeavour. (BST supporter following the 20[th] Bournemouth Spear celebration)

An insight into where Bournemouth Spear Trainees are now:

Apprenticeships Skills and Learning Bournemouth and Poole College University Care roles The BIC Bournemouth Administration and manufacturing roles in local businesses Roles in the hospitality industry including Starbucks, Nando’s, various local restaurants and bars

Financial review

Funding from grants amounted to £89,731 for the financial year. Individual donations and other income for the financial year totalled £37,351. All funds received were unrestricted.

Expenditure in the financial year, all incurred in support of the charitable objectives, was £133,064, principally for partner licence fees and staff salaries. Including £15,347 brought forward from the previous year, total funds carried forward amounted to £9,365.

Recognising the need to balance income and expenditure going forward, and aiming to keep 3 months' running costs as reserves, the trustees are aware that more funds need to be raised to enable this. The situation is monitored on a regular basis and fundraising to meet ongoing expenditure and maintain financial reserves is ongoing.

The Trustees’ responsibilities in relation to the financial statements

Charity law requires the Board of Trustees to prepare financial statements for each accounting year, which give a true and fair view of the state of the charity and of its income and expenditure for the year. In preparing those financial statements the trustees are required to:

The Board of Trustees is responsible for keeping adequate accounting records which disclose, with reasonable accuracy at any time, the financial position of the charity and enable it to ensure that the financial statements comply with applicable accounting statements and statements of recommended practice and the regulations made under the Charities Act 2011. The Board is also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and for taking reasonable steps to prevent fraud or any other irregularities.

The Board of Trustees has examined the charity’s requirements for reserves in the light of the main risks to the organisation. Through ongoing fundraising, BST aims to have funds that, together with future regular contributions and other committed sums, would be sufficient to cover at least the next three months of its activities. This is to mitigate against the risk of a cashflow deficit should insufficient funds be raised to meet the ongoing cost of operations. BST makes use of St Swithun’s Church premises. It therefore has limited exposure to the costs of repair and upkeep of its facilities. The trustees continue to review and assess the key risks facing the charity and ensure appropriate actions are taken.

Future plans

BST plans to continue the activities outlined above in the forthcoming years, continuing to deliver exceptional training and impressive results, and working to deepen relationships with other organisations in the local community to increase referrals and open new opportunities for the young people we have the privilege of working with.

Approved by the Board of Trustees on 16/01/2025 and signed on its behalf by:

Full name: Jonathan Pascall Position: Chair of Trustees Date: 16/01/2025

Independent examiner’s report to the Trustees of Bournemouth Spear Trust

Statement of financial accounts Stlternentof fi￿nd11 accounts 8ourn•m¢xth Swr Trwt P•11￿ ended Prnvi(yJs Year 31-Au1-24 31.Av8.23 RecelptsandpaymeThts Unrestrlced Receipt5 Grants Donations Re￿￿%￿d non slft ald Donatlons Recel¥*d gift ald Glft Aid received Investment Incom• 89,731 29.533 89,ni 29,533 4S.950 43.308 1,463 55 1.463 ss 39 89.297 127.082 127m2 Paymen Partner Llcencse Tralnee Supplles Stakeholder En8a8ement Travellin￿NOte1s Postage and Carria8e Cemputer and 5ofeware Mobile Charges GlvlnB Platfonn Mllea8e Claim5 Refreshents Staff Welfarenraifiin8 Bank Char8es Staff Salaries Employers Pensions Professional Fees 32.167 1,753 32,167 1,753 27,833 769 L350 1.737 1,737 589 971 1.045 971 108 £ 180 312 975 312 975 247 84,184 6,368 3,660 133,064 84,184 6,368 58,889 4.237 420 133,064 97.730 Excess ol re¢elptsover payments 15.9821 15,9811 18.4331 Tr•nsf•ry l1•t￿n funds Fund5 brov8ht foTward Funds tarried forward 15,347 9,365 15.347 9.365 23,780 15,347 StatementthAssets and LOabllOlles ssets.. CAF Gold bank account CAF Cash bankaccount 21 £ 9.144 £ 9.365