2021-12-31-accounts - Create Strength Group

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Create Strength Group CIO

Charity number 1193551

Annual Report and Financial Statements

for the year period 16 February 2021 to 31 December 2021

Create Strength Group CIO

Annual Report and Financial Statements

for the year period 16 February 2021 to 31 December 2021

Contents	Page
Trustees' report	2 to 4
Examiner's report	5
Receipts and payments account	6
Statement of assets and liabilities	7
Notes to the accounts	8 to 9

Prepared by West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO

Create Strength Group CIO

Trustees' report for the year period 16 February 2021 to 31 December 2021

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

Position Dates Resigned Gabriel Gert Frederick Stoltz Chair Melva Burton Vice chair Rosemary Anne Phillips Secretary Wayne Redmond Resigned June 2022 Craig Chambers Resigned April 2022 Abi Fox Resigned August 2021

Charity number

1193551

Registered in England and Wales

Registered and principal address

Bankers

35 Salem Street, Charities Aid Foundation Bradford 25 Kings Hill Ave BD1 4QH Kings Hill West Malling ME19 4TA

Independent examiner

Simon Bostrom ACIE

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 16 February 2021 and is governed by a constitution.

Method of recruitment and appointment of trustees

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

Create Strength Group CIO

Trustees' report (continued) for the year period 16 February 2021 to 31 December 2021

Objectives and activities

The charity's objects

Provide services
Provides advocacy/advice/information
Sponsors or undertakes research

The charity's main activities

Create Strength Group provides support to chronic users of cannabis, spice and legal highs and their families. We host mutual aid support groups across West Yorkshire and online, where experience and advice are shared in a safe, non-judgemental, abstinence-based user led environment. The group's services also include training and research.

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 and in particular

1 The provision of mutual aid group support and the distribution of information, guidance and assistance to those close to or with an interest in such addictions, their families and concerned others;
2 Delivering a series of local meetings to promote abstinence from drug use, share best practise and provide support information and advice;
3 Working with groups of a similar nature and exchange information, advice and knowledge with them, including cooperation with other voluntary bodies, charities, statutory and non-statutory organisations to achieve our objects;
4 Supporting social interaction / inclusion and awareness of; the reasons, symptoms and consequences of contemporary drug use, particularly regarding the three main specialist knowledge bases found within our membership; namely cannabis, spice and legal highs;
5 Promoting a range of transferable skills within our membership and the community, such as; employability skills, confidence and social skills, IT and media skills and responsibility and organisational skills. To encourage, develop and support the pursuit of education and training within our membership.

Achievements and performance

Milestones include:

Exceeding the hosting of 1,000 support meetings since our formation
Transforming from a constituted community group to a registered charity
Increasing membership to 414
Securing 2,355 instances of attendances in 2021
Securing core funding to 2024
Increasing income by 95%
Consolidating our substance awareness training programme

In 2015 the percentage of our associates citing spice as their first drug of choice was 2%, this figure on 31 December 2021 stands at 11%.

As a group we have responded to this increase in demand by increasing our 1:1 provision for spice users (spice users typically do not respond well to group therapy treatments and require personalised interventions) and by continuing to promote our Unit 101 Cannabis and Spice Awareness training to front line workers.

Our tenancy at Bridge’s headquarters at 35 Salem Street has seen increased referrals from the Bridge services that operate from this location, with spice interventions and consultation filling the majority of demand.

Create Strength Group CIO

Trustees' report (continued) for the year period 16 February 2021 to 31 December 2021

Achievements and performance continued

The transition from a constituted community group to a registered charity and the securing of National Lottery Reaching Communities (NLRC) funding are two stand out milestones of the year. A third milestone was the appointment of a second staff member. The NLRC funding allowed us to employ a Project Assistant to help with the development and consolidation of our organisational evolution, doubling our workforce and strengthening our diversity. A fourth major milestone saw the occupation of office space at 29 Salem Street. This move allowed us a physical base to store, plan and manage our resources from in addition to hosting 1- to-1 support sessions.

2021 also saw the consolidation of our project based model. This year saw the successful completion of the National Lottery Covid 19 project (26 weeks £23,740) in addition to National Lottery variation funding (extending the project a further 8 weeks £5,480) We also delivered the ABCD C9 Project (1 week £500) and completed the CNET administered Mental Health Project (14 weeks £3,650). We are currently in the advanced planning stage of our Nitrous Oxide Project, funded by the Bradford Council Cleaner Streets Campaign (16 weeks £2,000) and will deliver our ABCD CP8 project in early 2022 (2 weeks £1032).

The decision to develop commercial training some years ago is beginning to reap rewards. Our unit 101 Cannabis and Spice Awareness course is proving particularly popular with front line workers throughout the Bradford district and beyond. Enquiries are at an all-time high with training income accounting for the majority of non-grant revenue.

With the exception of our walk and talk events, all our support meetings in 2021 were hosted on the zoom platform. Furthermore we ran 6 online training sessions and a number of 1-to-1 interventions. Zoom has now been established as a proven delivery tool for our organisation and moving forward into 2022 it is likely to be implemented further in meetings, hybrid working and interventions.

Social Media:

We currently host a public Facebook Page which is managed by the Project Administrator and is designed to allow contact, information enquiries and networking outside of normal support hours.
The Project Administrator also manages and maintains our Twitter account. We use this account to promote our meetings and to engage in conversations that are relevant to the group. There is a strict non-political policy associated with this account.

Financial review

The net receipts for the year were £16,619, including net receipts of £291 on unrestricted funds and net receipts of £16,328 on restricted funds after transfers.

Reserves policy

The charity's free reserves, excluding fixed assets, at the year end were £291.

The charity does not have a reserves policy.

Signed on behalf of the board of trustees on 24/10/2022

Gabriel GF Stoltz (Trustee)

Create Strength Group CIO

Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Create Strength Group CIO

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the CIO for the year period 16 February 2021 to 31 December 2021, which are set out on pages 6 to 9.

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

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 CIO as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2 the accounts do not accord with those records.

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 ACIE

24/10/2022

West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO

Stringer House 34 Lupton Street Leeds LS10 2QW

Create Strength Group CIO

Receipts and payments account

for the year period 16 February 2021 to 31 December 2021

Notes 2021 Unrestricted funds £ Receipts Grants and donations (2) 67 Training income 999 Other income 11 Transfer on incorporation 1,214 Total receipts 2,291 Payments Salaries NI and pensions - Freelance workers 2,000 Staff expenses - Project expenses - Volunteer expenses - Travel and accommodation - IT and software - Materials and resources - Food and refreshments - Advertising and publicity - Printing and stationery - Equipment - Subscriptions - Insurance - Phone - Meeting costs - Other services - Bank charges - Total payments 2,000 Net income / (expenditure) 291 Fund balances brought forward - Fund balances carried forward (3) 291	2021 Restricted funds £ 44,963 - - 8,025 52,988 18,099 4,000 603 816 1,955 43 2,076 3,756 227 2,029 84 1,228 264 30 100 1,202 63 85 36,660 16,328 - 16,328	2021 Total funds £ 45,030 999 11 9,239 55,279 18,099 6,000 603 816 1,955 43 2,076 3,756 227 2,029 84 1,228 264 30 100 1,202 63 85 38,660 16,619 - 16,619

Create Strength Group CIO

Statement of assets and liabilities

as at 31 December 2021 2021 Unrestricted £ Cash funds Cash at bank 291 Cash in hand - Total cash funds 291 Liabilities Independent examination PAYE and NI Pensions	2021 Restricted £ 16,328 - 16,328	2021 Total £ 16,619 - 16,619 £ 480 1,722 1,050 3,252

The financial statements were approved by the board of trustees on 24/10/2022

Gabriel GF Stoltz (Trustee)

Create Strength Group CIO

Notes to the accounts

for the year period 16 February 2021 to 31 December 2021

1 Accounting policies

Basis of accounting

The trustees have taken advantage of section 133 of the Charities Act 2011 and have prepared the accounts on a receipts and payments basis.

There has been no change to the accounting policies since last year.

No changes have been made to the accounts for previous years.

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.

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.

Create Strength Group CIO

Notes to the accounts continued

for the year period 16 February 2021 to 31 December 2021

2 Grants and donations National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF) City of Bradford Met. Dist. Council (CBMDC) Bradford VCS Alliance Other donations 3 Restricted funds Balance b/f £ NLCF Development - NLCF Covid 19 - NLCF Reaching Communities - CBMDC MH project - CBMDC Cleaner streets BVCS Alliance - -	2021 Unrestricted funds £ - - - 67 67 Receipts £ 8,025 5,480 31,675 4,275 2,000 1,533 52,988	2021 Restricted funds £ 37,155 6,275 1,533 - 44,963 Payments £ 8,025 5,174 19,000 3,984 - 477 36,660	2021 Total funds £ 37,155 6,275 1,533 67 45,030 Transfers £ - - - - - - -	Balance c/f £ - 306 12,675 291 2,000 1,056 16,328

Fund name

Purpose of restriction

NLCF Development

NLCF Covid 19 NLCF Reaching Communities CBMDC MH project CBMDC Cleaner streets

BVCS Alliance

Developmental grant to enable the charity to plan and administer operational projects in preparation for an application to the Reaching Communities Fund.

To support delivery due to the extension of the lockdown. Towards the ongoing Create Strength Foundation Project. Towards the costs of mental health workshops and social events. Towards the costs of the nitrous oxide project, litter picking and awareness raising.

Towards the costs of taster sessions.

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.