2024-12-31-accounts - Asylum Matters

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Asylum Matters

Charity number 1192664

Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2024

Asylum Matters

Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2024

Contents	Page
Trustees' report	2 to 6
Examiner's report	7
Statement of financial activities	8
Balance sheet	9
Notes to the accounts	10 to 13

Prepared by West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO

Asylum Matters

Trustees' report for the year ended 31 December 2024

Reference and administrative details of the charity, its trustees and advisors

The trustees during the financial year and up to and including the date the report was approved were: Name Position Dates Emma Harrison Chair Andrew White Treasurer Jacqueline Cotton Carmen Chapell Elkin Resigned 13 February 2025 Peter Fell Pinar Aksu Diana Gallardo Fatma Elaraby Charity number 1192664 Registered in England and Wales Registered and principal address Bankers PO BOX 389 Unity Trust Bank plc United Trust Bank Leeds 4 Brindley Pl One Ropemaker Street LS26 1GR Birmingham B1 2JB London EC2Y 9AW Saffron Building Soc. Redwood Bank 1a Market Street The Nexus Bldg Broadway Saffron Walden Letchworth Garden City SG6 3TA Essex CB10 1HX. Independent examiner Simon Bostrom FCIE West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO Stringer House 34 Lupton Street Leeds LS10 2QW

Structure, governance and management

The charity is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) foundation formed on 7 December 2020 and is governed by a constitution.

Method of recruitment and appointment of trustees

The trustees of the charity are appointed by the trustees at a duly convened meeting.

Asylum Matters

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 December 2024

Objectives and activities

The objects of the CIO are:

1) For the public benefit to relieve the charitable needs of refugees and asylum seekers and their dependants in the UK, in particular by:

a) providing training and support designed to build capacity among organisations which provide frontline support to refugees and asylum seekers and seek to improve their lives;

b) working with statutory agencies and key partners, through training, advocacy and campaigning work, to understand, examine and address the causes and consequences of the poverty and inequality which creates hardship amongst refugee and asylum seeking communities.

c) advancing public education in the asylum system, through campaigning, with the aim of raising awareness of the issues faced by refugee and asylum seeking communities and the need to address them.

2) To promote social inclusion for the public benefit by preventing refugees, asylum seekers and their dependants from becoming socially excluded, relieving their needs and assisting them to integrate into society.

Public benefit statement

In setting our objectives and planning our activities our Trustees have given serious consideration to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit.

The charity's main activities

What Asylum Matters does in furtherance of its objects and how it does it

Asylum Matters exists to improve the lives of asylum seekers and refugees by working in partnership locally and nationally to secure positive changes in policy and in practice. Our core team of seven campaigns managers are dispersed across England and Wales and are rooted in their local communities, which means that we are able to activate one of the broadest networks in the sector. Our network includes over 1,000 active partners, including local charities that provide front-line support to people in the asylum system.

Asylum Matters facilitates the involvement of this broad partnership base in advocacy work by providing them with different opportunities for engagement which fit with their priorities and resources. We bring partners together to provide coordinated and strategic joint action around opportunities for change. We provide hands-on support to build skills, knowledge and confidence to create change, while building platforms for people with lived experience to advocate directly with decision-makers.

Organisational Overview

We have finalised our new organisational strategy. We have new strategic objectives to reflect our work areas, a new theory of change and a clear articulation of our aims, vision, values, and crucially the unique space Asylum Matters occupies in the asylum and migrant rights space.

As referenced above we have also been developing campaigns strategies for all four of our areas – this will be the first time Asylum Matters has discrete campaigns strategies unique to each area of our activities. It will enable us to measure our impact more easily whilst ensuring that the organisation remains focussed on smart objectives in our day to day work.

Asylum Matters

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 December 2024

Achievements and performance

Activity & Achievements

The past year has been another incredibly busy period both within the Asylum Support space with a continuation of desperate levels of poverty, homelessness, exploitation and unmet healthcare needs, and more broadly in campaigning with a general election and a change in government. Key moments over the last year include:

Arrests of people for the purposes of removal to Rwanda and legal challenges to these, Asylum Matters have continued to be at the forefront of the community response to the harms inflicted by hostile border policies – we supported our partners by producing and disseminating information critical to reduce the harms of arrests, worked with partners to identify legal reps and ensured information flow to communities. Whilst we took the strategic decision to abstain from direct legal action to challenge the Safety of Rwanda Bill, as others were leading on this, we continued to support, amplify and ensure these calls to action were accessible within communities.

A continuation of harmful accommodation, including the Bibby Stockholm barge and utilisation of disused army barracks. Since the change in government we’ve seen huge progress in closing the Bibby Stockholm Barge, scrapping planned expansions in Northeye and Scampton. We continue to evidence the harm of Napier and Wethersfield.

A continuation of the Illegal Migration Act Asylum Ban, reversed by the new government who have started processing claims at pace, but without adequate legal representation.

A significant homelessness crisis generated by a reduction in post positive decision notice to quit asylum accommodation under the previous government – in some cases notice was reduced to just 7 days.

A General Election which saw some hugely harmful rhetoric around asylum and migration, and a change in government.

A scrapping of Rwanda, reopening of the asylum system.

A continuation of the racist violence against people seeking asylum, which has been bubbling for the last couple of years, coming to a pinnacle over the summer.

Racist Violence

The summer was marked by a rapid and gruesome escalation of violence against racialised people, and specifically people accommodated in asylum hotels, culminating in horrifying attacks against hotels in Rotherham and Tamworth where mobs blocked the fire exits and set the hotels alight. Violence against people accommodated in hotels has been mounting for the past couple of years, including a stabbing in a hotel in Worcestershire at the start of 2024. It’s important to note that this was not a moment of violence, but part of a pattern of violence against people seeking sanctuary here.

With partners we developed guidance for providers in hotels, and guidance for people seeking asylum translated into the top languages within the asylum system - we approached Hope Not Hate to have it hosted on their secure servers – it continues to be their most downloaded resource.

Fight the #AntiRefugeeLaws/Fight for Asylum Rights

We campaigned for Asylum Rights in the lead into the General Election and immediately following it the new government reopened the asylum system and the scrapped the Rwanda offshoring scheme. We’ve pivoted our FARL campaign to reflect these changes. We’ve now relaunched the campaign with a new name: ‘Fight for Asylum Rights’.

Our approach to campaigning in the pre-election period was highly focussed on catalysing constituency dialogue. In January 2024 we released our General Election campaigning resources to facilitate local grassroots campaigning for Parliamentary Candidates in anticipation of a General Election in 2024. We engaged with all of our community campaigners, our sector partners and frontline charities to launch these up and down the UK, running constituency & community based events, through partners nationally to ensure they were accessible online and easy to take and run with as part of our ‘Asylum Rights Voter’ drive.

Asylum Matters

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 December 2024

Achievements and performance continued

Post General Election we drafted and convened a sector ‘Welcome Letter’ to the new Prime Minister setting out the steps that must be taken within his first 100 days, this included reopening the asylum system and abandoning the Rwanda scheme.

We also gathered 1000’s of our postcards that had been completed with messages of welcome from all around the UK and with our friends at Praxis we arranged for some people seeking asylum to deliver these to No.10 for the attention of the new Prime Minister.

We prepared and delivered Asylum Welcome Packs to every single new and returning MP in the new parliament. These were all adapted to introduce the new MP to Asylum within their constituencies, introducing them to their local asylum support charities, and curating resources from partners to put into the welcome packs – they included briefings from Right to Remain, Humans for Rights Network and Helen Bamber etc. In addition to us sending all of these out to all MPs, we also released a template to partners that they could adapt for their use.

We’ve relaunched the FAR website and recommenced fortnightly mailouts to everyone who’s signed the pledge to Fight for Asylum Rights, ensuring we map campaigner journeys to help cultivate interest and skill in community based campaigners – each campaigner journey includes a menu of different actions people can take to stand up for asylum rights.

Asylum accommodation

Immediately after the General Election, with Refugee Action and NACCOM, we wrote to the minister to outline our shared concerns around asylum accommodation. She responded positively and has now committed to meeting with us every six months. So far we’ve met twice and been able to represent a series of immediate priorities that must be addressed around large scale sites and the use of hotels whilst the Home Office continue to explore longer term direction for asylum accommodation. Our briefing to minister on the short term asks on hotels is attached to this document.

NACCOM’s work around homelessness in and around the asylum system is crucial, and our partner Refugee Action continue their campaign to have asylum accommodation contracts moved out of the private sector and into the not for profit space. Our work through the Communities Not Camps campaign is on the immediate risks of large scale sites and hotels. It’s clear from meeting with the inister that the break clauses in private accommodation contracts in 2026 will not be triggered and the current accommodation arrangements will remain in force for some time. Developing and deepening our partnership with RA and NACCOM we three are in the process of pulling together an overarching asylum accommodation manifesto – working across our discrete policy areas to pull together a masterplan for the sector to coalesce around – ensuring that any NGO, any LA or other key stakeholder has a simple set of policy asks when meeting with any government representative or influential stakeholder.

More specifically on Communities Not Camps our work with front line partners continues earnestly. In addition to the new resources we developed during the racists attacks we’ve also developed briefings for Communities Not Camps coalition partners on the specific risks to people in large scale sites and hotels.

Through the Communities Not Camps coalition, we have every service provider in Wethersfield, Napier and The Bibby Stockholm Barge in the coalition, in addition to campaigners attached to Scampton and Northeye – both earmarked by the previous government for plans for large scale asylum camps.

Since the general election we’ve been able to secure the closure of The Bibby Stockholm, government have announced Napier will close and plans to open Scampton have been pulled. When we started Communities Not Camps we had three camps, one barge and plans for at least three more camps and more barges. We’ve got this down to just Wethersfield, and while of course we’re delighted by the success of our campaign – we continue to fight for Wethersfield to be closed, while also representing the risks around hotels.

Asylum Matters

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 December 2024

Achievements and performance continued

Asylum support

Our focus through the winter period has been to build a new coalition campaign strategy around asylum poverty, Action Against Asylum Poverty as the coalition name, and ‘fight asylum poverty’ as the public facing campaign. Whilst we’ve worked on asylum poverty throughout our history we’ve never proactively campaigned against it – having spoken to many sector partners and people in hotels and large scale sites there’s a consensus that this is one of the single biggest issues with the asylum system, with no one in the sector with the capacity to lead an advance on this. Given our history of work in this area and the skill and knowledge we have, we feel that this is the right time to launch a new campaign.

We’ve developed a new partnership with Aston University who will be providing research and academic skill to the poverty campaign, understanding what ‘the ask’ needs to be – historically it’s been that people in the asylum system should receive 70% of Universal Credit – but it’s been a long time since this was tested, and the rationale needs overhauling. We’re busy developing the proposition and methodology together.

Lift The Ban

We’ve relaunched our Lift the Ban campaign with Refugee Action following the general election and convened the coalition together to relaunch the new campaign strategy. This meeting was led by some of our amazing Lived Experience community campaigners.

With Refugee Action, our campaign partners, we’ve organised a Campaign Moment on parliament square – footage of this is available here. We ran the event in such a way as it could be replicated in the Cities across the UK and we’ve seen similar events across the UK.

We’ve completed a new research project with Refugee Action around the key Labour drivers and blockers for working rights. Working with RAMP we’re planning a Parliamentary launch for the report findings in May.

Financial review

Income for the year was £398,124 and expenditure was £333,658. The net income for the year was £64,466, including net income of £57,906 on unrestricted funds and net income of £6,560 on restricted funds.

We are very grateful for the support shown by all our funders. Details of grants and donations received are shown in note 2 to the accounts.

Reserves policy

The charity's free reserves, excluding fixed assets, at the year end were £297,670.

The trustees have decided that the level of unrestricted reserves should be between £100,000 and £200,000, representing approximately 3-6 months expenditure in 2025. The trustees expect that the 2025 accounts will show a deficit of about £70,000 which will reduce the level of free reserves to approximately £225,000 by the end of 2025. A further deficit is expected in 2026.

Approved by the board of trustees on 17/07/2025

Andrew White (Trustee)

Asylum Matters

Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Asylum Matters

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the CIO for the year ended 31 December 2024, which are set out on pages 8 to 13.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the CIO 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 the CIO's accounts as carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act. 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

Since the CIO's gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a fellow of a body listed in section 145 of the 2011 Act.

I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a fellow of ACIE which is one of the listed bodies.

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 the charity as required by section 130 of the Charities Act; 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.

Simon Bostrom FCIE

29/07/2025

West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO

Stringer House 34 Lupton Street Leeds LS10 2QW

Asylum Matters

Statement of Financial Activities

(including summary income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31 December 2024

Notes 2024 Unrestricted funds £ Income from: Grants, contracts and donations (2) 278,835 Bank interest 8,425 Other income 560 Total income 287,820 Expenditure on: Salaries NI and Pensions (3) 183,439 Recruitment 1,169 Staff training and support 2,154 Staff travel and accomodation 11,560 Staff wellbeing - Volunteers, interns, experts by experience 5,520 Trustee travel and training - Advocacy and research and consultancy support - Campaign events and partner meetings 1,131 Contribution to host organisation costs 3,200 Insurance 908 Computers and IT 1,611 Phone and internet 1,520 Postage and stationery 1,298 Payroll charges 1,366 Bank charges 2 Independent examination 1,250 Legal and professional 963 Communications support 3,999 Admin and finance support 6,844 Advertising, publicity and website 1,980 Total expenditure 229,914 Net income / (expenditure) 57,906 Fund balances brought forward 239,764 Fund balances carried forward (4) 297,670	2024 Restricted funds £ 110,304 - - 110,304 100,061 - - 840 1,974 - - - 7 - - - 14 19 - - - - 829 - - 103,744 6,560 14,354 20,914	2024 Total funds £ 389,139 8,425 560 398,124 283,500 1,169 2,154 12,400 1,974 5,520 - - 1,138 3,200 908 1,611 1,534 1,317 1,366 2 1,250 963 4,828 6,844 1,980 333,658 64,466 254,118 318,584	2023 Total funds £ 356,674 5,908 226 362,808 274,978 1,656 2,010 15,233 - 4,712 1,031 3,445 949 4,033 816 3,897 1,408 976 1,239 101 1,250 2,842 5,027 10,587 900 337,090 25,718 228,400 254,118

All incoming resources and resources expended derive from continuing activities.

Asylum Matters

Balance sheet as at 31 December 2024 2024 Unrestricted £ Current assets Cash at bank and in hand (5) 299,402 Total current assets 299,402 Current liabilities: amounts falling due within one year Creditors and accruals (6) 1,732 Total current liabilities 1,732 Net current assets / (liabilities) 297,670 Net assets 297,670 Funds Unrestricted funds 297,670 Restricted funds - Total funds 297,670	2024 Restricted £ 20,914 20,914 - - 20,914 20,914 - 20,914 20,914	2024 Total £ 320,316 320,316 1,732 1,732 318,584 318,584 297,670 20,914 318,584	2023 Total £ 257,737 257,737 3,619 3,619 254,118 254,118 239,764 14,354 254,118

The financial statements were approved by the board of trustees on 17/07/2025

Andrew White (Trustee)

Asylum Matters

Notes to the accounts

for the year ended 31 December 2024

1 Accounting policies

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 financial statements 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) (effective 1 January 2019) and with the Charities Act 2011.

The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. There has been no change to the accounting policies since last year. No changes have been made to the accounts for previous years.

Going concern

The trustees are satisfied that there are no material uncertainties about the charity's ability to continue.

Incoming resources

All incoming resources are 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

Grants and donations are only included in the SOFA when the charity has unconditional entitlement to the resources.

Where grants are related to performance and specific deliverables, they are accounted for as the charity earns the right to consideration by its performance.

Expenditure and liabilities

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

Taxation

As a charity the organisation benefits from rates relief and is generally exempt from income tax and capital gains tax but not from VAT. Irrecoverable VAT is included in the cost of those items to which it relates.

Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets costing more than £1,000 are capitalised and included at cost including any incidental expenses of acquisition. Gifted assets are shown at the value to the charity on receipt.

Pensions

The charity operates a defined contribution scheme for the benefit of its employees. The costs of contributions are recognised in the year they are payable.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity.

Restricted funds are subjected to restrictions on their expenditure imposed by the donor or through the terms of an appeal.

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the accounts.

Asylum Matters

Notes to the accounts continued

for the year ended 31 December 2024

2 Grants and donations AB Charitable Trust Disrupt Foundation Esmee Fairbairn Foundation Lloyds Bank Foundation National Lottery Community Foundation Paul Hamlyn Foundation Sam and Bella Sebba Charitable Foundation The Barrow Cadbury Trust Treebeard Trust Tudor Trust Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust The National Lottery Community Fund Other donations 3 Staff costs and numbers Gross salaries Social security costs Employment allowance Pensions	2024 Unrestricted funds £ 20,000 20,000 60,000 66,667 - - 50,000 - 25,000 35,000 - - 2,168 278,835	2024 Restricted funds £ - - - - 33,804 50,000 - 24,000 - - - - 2,500 110,304	2024 Total funds £ 20,000 20,000 60,000 66,667 33,804 50,000 50,000 24,000 25,000 35,000 - - 4,668 389,139 2024 £ 249,648 25,626 (5,000) 13,226 283,500	2023 Total funds £ 20,000 - - 70,000 - 55,000 17,500 30,000 25,000 37,000 27,000 33,685 41,489 356,674 2023 £ 242,060 25,135 (5,000) 12,783 274,978

The average number of employees during the year was 7, being an average of 6.4 full time equivalent (2023: 6.6, 6.3 FTE). There were no employees with emoluments above £60,000.

Defined contribution pension scheme Costs of the scheme to the charity for the year 4 Restricted funds Balance b/f £ Barrow Cadbury Trust - The National Lottery 12,354 John Laing - Tudor Trust 2,000 Paul Hamlyn Foundation - 14,354	Incoming £ 24,000 33,804 2,500 - 50,000 110,304	Outgoing £ 24,000 36,077 - 2,000 41,667 103,744	2024 £ 13,226 Transfers £ - - - - - -	2023 £ 12,783 Balance c/f £ - 10,081 2,500 - 8,333 20,914

Fund name

Barrow Cadbury Trust The National Lottery

John Laing Tudor Trust Paul Hamlyn Foundation

Purpose of restriction

Towards the cost of a Campaigns Manager for the West Midlands. For Greater Manchester Step Change Project. The activity is delivered in partnership with Refugee Action as part of the Lottery's Partnerships England Wide programme.

For travel costs for Lift The Ban event Towards staff wellbeing. Towards the charity's core costs.

Asylum Matters

Notes to the accounts continued

for the year ended 31 December 2024

5 Cash at bank and in hand Cash at bank Cash in hand 6 Creditors and accruals Accruals	2024 £ 320,316 - 320,316 2024 £ 1,732 1,732	2023 £ 257,737 - 257,737 2023 £ 3,619 3,619

7 Related party transactions

Trustee expenses

No trustee received any expenses during this year or the previous year.

Trustee remuneration and benefits

No trustee received any remuneration or benefit during this or the previous year.

Remuneration and benefits received by key management personnel

The total employee benefits received by key management personnel were £51,017 (previous year: £62,634).

Asylum Matters

Statement of Financial Activities including comparatives for all funds (including summary income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31 December 2024

2024 2023 Unrestricted Unrestricted funds funds £ £ Income Grants, contracts and donations 278,835 290,989 Bank interest 8,425 5,908 Other income 560 226 Total income 287,820 297,123 Expenditure Salaries NI and Pensions 183,439 213,049 Recruitment 1,169 1,656 Staff training and support 2,154 1,924 Staff travel and accomodation 11,560 13,363 Staff wellbeing - - Volunteers, interns, experts by exp'ce. 5,520 4,570 Trustee travel and training - 1,031 Advocacy and research - 3,295 Campaign events and meetings 1,131 857 Contribution to host costs 3,200 4,033 Insurance 908 816 Computers and IT 1,611 3,286 Phone and internet 1,520 1,322 Postage and stationery 1,298 976 Payroll charges 1,366 1,239 Bank charges 2 101 Independent examination 1,250 1,250 Legal and professional 963 2,842 Communications support 3,999 3,842 Admin and finance support 6,844 10,587 Advertising, publicity and website 1,980 900 Total expenditure 229,914 270,939 Net income / (expenditure) 57,906 26,184 Fund balances brought forward 239,764 213,580 Fund balances carried forward 297,670 239,764	2024 Restricted funds £ 110,304 - - 110,304 100,061 - - 840 1,974 - - - 7 - - - 14 19 - - - - 829 - - 103,744 6,560 14,354 20,914	2023 Restricted funds £ 65,685 - - 65,685 61,929 - 86 1,870 - 142 - 150 92 - - 611 86 - - - - - 1,185 - - 66,151 (466) 14,820 14,354	2024 Total funds £ 389,139 8,425 560 398,124 283,500 1,169 2,154 12,400 1,974 5,520 - - 1,138 3,200 908 1,611 1,534 1,317 1,366 2 1,250 963 4,828 6,844 1,980 333,658 64,466 254,118 318,584	2023 Total funds £ 356,674 5,908 226 362,808 274,978 1,656 2,010 15,233 - 4,712 1,031 3,445 949 4,033 816 3,897 1,408 976 1,239 101 1,250 2,842 5,027 10,587 900 337,090 25,718 228,400 254,118