2024-03-31-accounts

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ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS

2023 - 2024

4bbbb.org.uk

Charity Registration Number: 1194396

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Reference and Administrative Details 2
Trustees Report 3
Detached Youth Work - City Centre 4
Blue Light – Detached Youth Work - Neighbourhoods 8
Divert Plus 9
Mentoring 9
Youth Club 12
Friday Football 13
Holiday Activity Fund 14
Social Media 15
Adult Support Work 1 5
Women’s Support Work 15
Coffee Morning 16
Partnership Working 17
Governance 17
Induction of Trustees 17
Reserves Policy 17
Statement of Trustees Responsibilities 18
Independent Examiners Report 1 9
Income and Expenditure Accounts 20
Balance Sheet 22
Notes to Financial Statements 23
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Reference and Administrative Details

	Trustees	Morris Samuels (Resigned 21/11/2023)
		Ebony Francis (Resigned 21/11/2023)
		Carl Towner (Resigned 21/11/2023)
		Lisa Churchill (Appointed 21/11/2023)
		Asad Fazil MBE (Appointed 21/11/2023)
		Vanessa Lea McFarlane (Appointed 21/11/2023)
	Senior Management Team	Maxine Cockett (CEO)
	Registered Ofce	Cubo, 12 Fenchurch Street
		Nottingham NG1 2AS
	Email	admin@4bbbb.org.uk
	Phone	0300 1021650
	Social Media	Facebook: @4bbbb.org.uk
		Instagram: @bbbb_nottm
		X (Twitter): @BBBB_Nottm
	Bankers	Lloyds Bank 12-16 Lower Parliament Street
		Nottingham NG1 3DA
	Accountants and	Community Accounting Plus
	Independent Examiners	Units 1 and 2, Northwest
		41 Talbot Street
		Nottingham, NG1 5GL

TRUSTEES REPORT

The objects of the Breaking Barriers Building Bridges are:

To advance in life and relieve needs of young people within Nottinghamshire and its border counties through:
a. The provision of recreational and leisure time activities provided in the interest of social welfare, designed to improve their conditions of life;
b. Providing support and activities which develop their skills, capacities and capabilities to enable them to participate in society as mature and responsible individuals.
The relief of those in need by reason of old age, ill health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage.

We support young people, their families, and everyone who are marginalised because of their differences and vulnerabilities, especially those viewed as challenging or difficult to engage with. Within each person’s journey, we aim to raise their cultural, personal and spiritual awareness supporting them to reach their full potential, as well as helping the target group to sustain healthy appropriate relationships with family, partners and friends and become citizens that are more active.

The service we provide is holistic, as we focus on the person and their family - we look at the person’s home life, school/ work life, peers, education, training, employment and housing needs along with social activity. We recognise that each person is different and unique, so we tailor-make a package for each individual. We do this through a range of services including weekly football and youth group sessions, other sporting activities, street outreach, coffee mornings, one to one and group mentoring, and through social media contact, phone calls and video chats.

Public Benefit

The public benefits that flow from our purposes are: (a) an enhanced quality of life and sense of well-being through engagement with and participation in activities and events that bring people together, leading to improvements in physical and emotional well-being, quality of life and a more stable and cohesive community; (b) increased opportunities to engage in new activities

that bring people together, leading to greater social cohesion and fulfilment; (c) enhanced active citizenship and involvement in community life.

The trustees can confirm that the work of Breaking Barriers Building Bridges meets the charity commission definition of Public Benefit.

Projects delivered throughout 2023-24 financial and reporting year.

Detached Youth Work – City Centre

Our City Centre Street Outreach project is the largest single project delivered by Breaking Barriers Building Bridges and is funded through the Violence Reduction Partnership who bring together partners including Nottingham Business Improvement District (BID) along with Nottingham Forest Community Trust and ourselves to have a team of experienced youth workers within the city centre up to 6 days a week.

The team have built trust with many young people who come through the city centre on their route from school to home. Many young people come together in groups and sometimes this can lead to tensions between different groups and we work to de-escalate potential violent situations. Our work often focuses on de-escalation between groups of young people, helping young people and young adults to understand the consequences of getting involved in criminality. The key to success is the positive relationship built – no two days are the same!

Our detached outreach team is based on creating initial engagement. We have effectively used this to prevent and deter young people and young adults from being involved in violence and criminal behaviour. Breaking Barriers Building Bridges have successfully developed, delivered and maintained a detached youth work model in Nottingham City Centre taking a highly effective public health approach, which has been widely recognised as enabling us to experience a reduction in violent crime in the city centre area, as seen in the report from Trent University by Lucy Betts (https://tunyurl.com/4n64pj8n).

Case Study

Sadia is a 15-year-old black girl who moved to the UK from North Africa with her mother, 2 sisters and a brother. Whilst she lives with her mother and siblings her father has remained in the home country. She was good at attending school but earlier this year she got caught up in a girl gang that was coming into Nottingham City Centre after school and causing trouble with other girls. Sadia would fight with other girls from different schools and both the gang she was part of and herself were known to the 4BBBBs team as well as also known to the police. Despite the operations of the gang she was part of, she was beaten up, leaving her embarrassed as she was the only one in her gang that hadn’t been beat up previously.

Sadia then approached a female youth worker from 4BBBBs who took her back to the Cubo office. She sat and talked through what had happened to her and at times was crying. She was also very angry that others had seen her get beaten up and not helped her. We then called her mum who came into town and the Cubo office to collect her. We told both Sadia and her mother that they can call us if they needed any further support.

The same week Sadia contacted 4BBBBs through our Instagram direct messaging asking to meet again at the Cubo office, whereby she spoke

in-depth about why she needed support. She said that she wanted a mentor ASAP. We contacted her school to advise them that she was starting on mentoring as both Sadia and her mum wanted them to know she was getting additional 1-2-1 support. The school support was needed to be made immediately as Sadia was very close to permanent exclusion at this point. Therefore, commencing mentoring gave Sadia a bit more time to settle down and avoid being permanently excluded.

Over the next few months we observed massive changes in Sadia, she had become unhappy with the person she had become since getting involved in the gang and she really wanted to change her situation for the better. Sadia got on really well with her mentor (female youth worker) and their relationship flourished as Sadia met all of her objectives from her mentoring plan. Sadias mentor got involved in multiagency meetings as well as meetings at school, all of which was heading in a much more positive direction as a result of this 1-2-1 support. Sadia never missed a mentoring meeting. Sadias mentoring plan included: 1) Self-love, 2) Self-care, 3) Assertiveness, 4) Self-Esteem, 5) Anger Issues, 6) School Life, 7) Family Life, 8) Friendship Circles, 9) Choices and Consequences, 10) Police and Criminal Convictions and 11) Personal Issues.

Very quickly Sadia learned that being strong doesn’t mean fighting others. She did say when she fought previously, she did it to stand out in the gang but she now realised that she often felt bad as the girls she had fought hadn’t really done anything to cause the violence. With her mentor she discovered that standing out for positive reasons was much more rewarding and gave her greater selfesteem and confidence. As a result of the changes, she was doing well at school and her home life relationships also improved through her change of attitude and behaviour towards others.

Sadia has kept in touch with her mentor even through her mentoring sessions have come to an end and

she knows if she has concerns or worries, she can reach out anytime for more help. She has also reflected that she can now manage her anger more through techniques learned in mentoring meetings. We do see Sadia coming through the city still, but she no longer gets caught up in violence.

Sadia also reported that her mock exams have gone well and she will also come to our Holiday Activity Clubs to give her positive activities during school holidays. Sadia has said she feels like a completely new person since getting involved in 4BBBBs mentoring and activities following on from her involvement in our detached youth outreach provision.

Local Police Inspector Karl Thomas said the following about 4BBBBs

The body of work carried out by the 4Bs is relentless and I am in danger of providing an inventory of activities undertaken without truly contextualising their true value, which is what it says on the tin’ breaking barriers and building bridges (4Bs). They build rapports with people, partners and communities from all backgrounds and position in life, so they can help prevent crimes and positively service the public’s needs.

This means that they are a solid conduit between the public and the police and without this link many underrepresented and young communities simply would not engage with the police. Consequently, securing long lasting relationships, whilst gaining trust and confidence through honest dialogue around knife, hate crime, stop/search, and bias, which helps dispel negative perceptions of police and reduces demand on our resources and preventing further offences being committed.

I would like it noting that the 4Bs work cohesively with other third sector groups even when no one is watching and I have attended independent Advisory Group meetings, community events by other groups who are often competing for the same pots of funding, yet they discard boundaries and champion other groups and provide a selfless service. This builds trust and confidence in communities, whilst maintaining our reputation as a legitimate service provider.

Therefore, without exception I endorse the 4Bs for funding because without their support Nottingham is a far less safe place to work, socialise and live

Yours sincerely

Karl Thomas Chief Inspector (City Centre)

Detached youth work is engaging where young people chose to meet. Detached youth work is planned in consultation with young people to ensure that it really meets their needs. We seek to empower, politicise and support young people within their community (neighbourhoods). The main aim of this work is to engage with the local community and young people that choose not to attend, or do not know where youth clubs and community centres are and therefore are not engaged with established local provision. We will engage and divert the young people we meet to local services in the area where they live or congregate with their peers/friendship group. We seek to identify local issues and help the local community to have their voices heard via local residents meetings, central locality meetings etc.

Blue Light (Detached Youth Work - Neighbourhoods)

This project sees a team of youth workers across different neighbourhoods in Nottingham that are identified through Nottinghamshire Police as hotspots for youth anti-social behaviour. Once an area has been identified our team of youth workers walk around the area in the evenings (afterschool and school holidays) to develop relationships with young people, local agencies and small businesses. The work currently moves to a new area every 3 months as we are continuously directed by police and Nottingham City Council intelligence to work in the most needed neighbourhoods.

Divert Plus

The mentees on this programme have been referred from the Youth Offending Team (YOT), Social Workers or Police who refer young people who have been involved in the youth justice system.

This work funded a programme of mentoring which was delivered by a specialist youth worker who had established expertise in mentoring programmes. The mentoring was often on a 1-2-1 basis with young people, who would share their challenges and they would develop with the youth worker a mentoring plan to help them develop skills and confidence to achieve the outcomes that they wanted help to progress towards. This was often based on education and training and was targeted at young people who were becoming disaffected with mainstream education and were facing exclusion (temporary or permanent, or were already within the Pupil Referral Units provision). We also worked on the basis of helping the young people to explore choices and consequences which helped them make more positive choices and aimed to remove young people from the criminal justice system.

Mentoring

We have also provided both 1-2-1 and group mentoring which was part of our Reaching Communities funded project previously, where young people are either referred from an external partner or referred themselves. Whilst funding from Reaching Communities ended before this financial year, we have been able to continue to provide mentoring support

through a partnership with Nottingham Forest Community Trust and we are working on a further funding scheme to continue mentoring young people who are involved in the criminal justice system through The Another Way programme.

We have worked with young people aged 11-25 years old within our mentoring provision. We focus on helping young people and young adults and diverting them away from negative influences such as violence, youth offending, knife crime etc. Our focus was to help provide young people and young adults with opportunities to help each person achieve their full potential.

Our mentoring programme helps young people to identify their aims and aspirations in life and then guiding and supporting them to plan a path for their ambitions. Many young people who engage with us have experienced poverty that can often limit what they believe as reasonable expectations of themselves. Our mentoring is aimed at raising their aspirations and providing a positive role model to see they have more opportunities than they might have previously expected of themselves.

The focus of our group mentoring was more around choices and consequences and we delivered workshops within this theme with the aim of diverting as many young people as possible from the criminal justice system. We worked on helping young people to understand the negative impacts of having a police or criminal record, in terms of when they mature and are looking for paid employment or building other aspects of a purposeful life.

Case Study 1

Paul is an 18-year-old White British young man. He has been coming to 4BBBBs provision for the last 9-10 years, so started with us as a relatively young boy. Paul lives with his mum who is a single parent and his mums health has meant she can no longer work and they are dependent on welfare benefits. Paul also reported that he was struggling with social anxiety.

Paul was struggling with school and stopped attending as he got so anxious around going. Paul’s mum and Paul himself asked for a mentor as he saw his peers progressing well and we were able to match him to a male mentor from the 4BBBBs team. Through mentoring he was able to reflect on and understand his confidence and social anxiety.

Over time Paul shared that he struggled to attend school because he was being bullied but he hadn’t shared this so had no support at the time. Paul’s mentor suggested some counselling might help to improve his confidence, self-esteem and learn techniques to manage his anxiety better.

We were able to refer him to another local organisation and through this support alongside his 4BBBBs mentoring, he was able to make huge progress with his mentoring plan. Whilst Paul was on his mentoring programme, this wasn’t a quick situation to change, but after around 2 years of intensive 1-2-1 support, we were able to safely exit him from the mentoring programme.

Paul was nervous around visiting new places and also interacting with other young people. With his mentor they visited places of interest together, with a focus on places where he would meet and socialise with other young people to build his confidence in the wider community.

He was able to make new friends who were positive influences and this directly challenged his world view, as he became more positive and confident, which was fantastic to see this transformation in him. He was able to re-engage in school and managed his anxiety over social situations really well as a result. Paul has now finished school and progressed to Nottingham College, where he is really enjoying his course.

Paul knows if he starts to struggle with anything he can always call 4BBBBs. Furthermore, Paul has also volunteered at our youth club, especially our Holiday Activity provision and he is developing great leadership skills through our sessions. He has a great support network of family and friends, with friends that are aiming for good careers or to attend university, which Paul can’t quite believe these are now options for him as well. Paul is still in touch with his mentor and knows we are here to support him with anything he needs, or just to talk something through with his mentor so he doesn’t have to struggle on his own.

Case Study 2

Sam is a 15-year-old black male living in the St Anns area of Nottingham. Sam lives with his mum and 2 sisters and has minimal contact with his father. Sam’s mum contacted 4BBBBs as she found out Sam was associating with a group of young people who were involved in knife crime and she then found a knife wrapped in a towel in his bedroom. His mum then brought the knife to 4BBBBs and we took this into the police station for destruction.

Sam’s mum also had no family or support network in the UK. She shared that finding this knife meant she was fearful that Sam would be injured or killed through the violence involving knifes that we are always hearing about with young people being often preparator or victim of knife crime.

Sams mum had seen an article in Nottingham Live about 4BBBBs and she had also seen our team of youth workers in the city centre, so she knew she could reach out to us for help with Sam. She also knew of another young man, who was killed by being stabbed and therefore feared this for her own son. This coupled with her depression meant she was struggling to eat and sleep as she couldn’t stop thinking about her worries for Sam. She had tried many times to get her son to understand her fears but she felt he was just dismissing her.

We asked her to bring Sam into our office at Cubo so we could meet together. During the meeting Sam informed us of all the things he was involved in, many of which his mum didn’t know. She couldn’t stop crying as a result of these disclosures. We offered Sam mentoring but said he should think about it and let us know if he wanted to take this up.

We didn’t hear from Sam for months but then he called us as one of his friends had been stabbed and he was now scared that this could happen to him. This event changed his mindset and opened him up to wanting to make changes to his lifestyle. When he came into our office he was crying and really scared. We gave him a mentor and over the next few months he made really good progress.

When Sam first started mentoring, he initially struggled to open up and fully engage with his mentor. He would miss appointments and not phone to cancel or to rebook. Then he started to get more into the process and he would attend all sessions and fully participate creating a real relationship of trust with his mentor. He became really grateful for the support he was receiving and admitted that he had gone through periods when he didn’t care about being alive and would therefore make bad decisions because of not caring. Sams attendance at school

also improved as his attitude to life changed considerably.

Sam made changes to the friendship group that he socialised with, becoming more friendly with other young people who were more positive about life and making better choices in terms of their education and aims in life. Sams homelife also improved in terms of his relationship with mum and sisters. He also started seeing his dad more and developing a positive relationship with dad. Dad also attended a meeting with Sam and his mentor which proved invaluable to Sams progress.

Sams case was complex where different agencies were involved in supporting Sam with making incredible changes to his life, through

Youth Club

Every Wednesday evening we hold a youth club session. Young people can come from 6:30pm through to 8:30pm. The group has been running for the last 10 years since we first formed as a youth charity because of the lack of youth provision in Nottingham.

his changing attitude and behaviour. Sam did well at school and has a continuing and positive relationship with his father. Sam attends all of our Friday Football sessions and has made good friends with other young people engaged with 4BBBBs.

Sam was one of the most challenging for the 4BBBBs team as the contact was limited at first and it took some time for Sam to get to the mindset of wanting to engage in our offer of support. Things progressed and then regressed at times, but we persisted and showed we were there for the long-term, whenever Sam was ready. Whilst Sam has now exited from our mentoring, he knows he can come back for support whenever he needs us.

for other services such as counselling, bereavement support, mental health advice etc we will also signpost and refer young people to the most appropriate service available.

Putting young people at the heart of our work, our services are very much youth led. Young people are at the centre of our organisation, ensuring their voices are listened to at all times. We offer centre based activities with opportunities for 1-2-1 work with young people and the youth workers. Also if the young people identify the need

“Castle Cavendish have been

The group will plan and organise specific trips and activities they want to undertake with the youth workers, they will play football, or just hang out and play board games, table tennis, table football etc. The session also buys in food for the young people so anyone who attends will get a free hot meal.

One of our young people said the following about 4BBBBs

“I’ve been going to 4Bs for about 7+ years now. They help many young people, especially me and I’m very grateful to have met them as they have given me many opportunities to better myself, kept me off the streets and avoid violence because of that I have gained a lot of great memories with them and I hope to gain more”.

Saeed, 17 years old

proud to support Breaking Barriers Building Bridges with funding and support to provide their much needed youth work in the Radford Area of Nottingham. Our funding has enabled them to work consistently with young people in this disadvantaged area, providing a flexible response that meets and exceeds the needs of young people. They engage well with the young people and adapt their provision to continue to engage with high numbers and also to work with them over many years, building trust that their approach and support fits the needs of everyone who wants to work with them. They are a true credit to the community.”

Van Henry, Castle Cavendish

Friday Football Sessions

We provide a weekly Friday evening of football kickabout on the 4G pitches at Forest Recreation Ground between 6pm – 8pm. We have around 50-80 young people attend this each week. Football has the ability to engage many young people and positively impact many young lives. Our Friday evening sessions bring together many young people from all over the city (all postcode areas despite common myths that young people from different areas wont be able to come together) and all race and faith groups, for 2 hours no matter where you come from all differences do not matter.

One of our participants joined our football session after seeing us deliver the session at Forest Community Trust 4G pitches. He had only been in the UK for 2 years but struggled with English and through our contact we were able to support his family through advice, advocacy and signposting to get help with housing and welfare benefits that the family were in desperate need of support with. This family are so appreciative of the support provided, with the young man always attending every week. He told us, through the support given he now feels a part of the community and has a much more positive outlook. He knows if he struggles with anything going forward, that he can ask for additional support in whatever way he needs.

testament to the value young people place on our activities. We also received young people at these sessions from all postcodes around Nottingham City.

Anecdotal feedback we have received from the local community is that these sessions are highly valued as it means all the young people who attend are able to continue to get a hot meal during school holidays, but it also critically provides a positive activity that keeps the young people engaged and therefore reduces reports of anti-social behaviour across communities.

Holiday Activity Fund

We have been funded by Nottingham City Council to provide Holiday Activity Fund activities for young people who are eligible for free school meals during school holidays. We provide youth club type activities 2-4 days a week during the summer holidays, Christmas, Easter and October Half Term.

Delivering activities such as football, centre-based youth work and sometimes trips we are able to engage a high number of young people. All attendees at these sessions also receive a nutritious hot meal therefore ensuring they do not go hungry during school holidays. We regularly see around 80 young people attend some of our sessions which is

Social Media

We have very active response to social media posts whereby young people can reach out to us through Instagram. Our Instagram channel is monitored outside of working hours and we aim to respond as soon as possible. Our use of social media sets us apart from other organisations as it enables us to provide a response very quickly and as a result of gaining confidence of young people we are able to prevent many incidents from escalating. Indeed, the use of social media to alert us to issues demonstrates the trust we have established with young people across the city.

Young people use this platform to reach out to us, i.e. for support, advice or guidance. We also use this platform to advertise what we do or to reach out to young people and everyone in the community.

Adult Support Work

Our CEO also provides additional support work for adults such as being an advocate for the service user to ensure their voice and opinion is raised. This can include help accessing benefits, supporting parents when children are facing exclusion from school, as well as being an “Appropriate Adult” role for young people or adults who are deemed as needing support during interviews with the police etc.

Women’s Support Work

Our CEO, Maxine Cockett provides individual support to women who are vulnerable and need support to access benefits, services they need such as housing, education, Domestic Abuse support, support to open a bank account, helping to access women’s refuge accommodation, helping to access social housing, reporting repairs issues to landlords, accessing universal credit etc. Maxine has supported over 75 women over this financial year.

Many women are referred from other women who have benefited from advice and support, or self-referred, or rereferred from agencies, social workers, and various city wide organisations.

The support is provided for a short-term engagement through to ongoing longer needs which can span over several years. Maxine can visit the woman at home, in a neutral place in the city, or at the Cubo office, which is an accessible safe space for meetings.

Maxine also previously taught the Freedom Programme and this has enabled her to have a wider network to refer women into for any specialist support needed that is outside of her capacity or experience.

Coffee Morning

We hold a weekly coffee morning that is attended by 10-15 people each week on a Thursday morning which was funded by Peoples Health Trust initially. The group have group discussions, arts & crafts, chair exercise sessions etc and the activities are led by the interests of the attendees. The group also decide on additional activities such as river cruise on the river Trent, a visit to Skegness, as well as theatre visits for plays that local Radford residents are interested in attending. This group has been meeting for over 15 years now (initially it was provided by another local charity, but Breaking Barriers Building Bridges took this over when the other charity closed down). The group is very diverse, with people from different faith and ethnic groups attending.

One of the attendees of the coffee morning said he comes each week, giving him a chance to come out of the house and meet people. He said he has made great friends and connections through the coffee morning group. Another participant described the group as “ being like a family, as I don’t have my own ”.

We also support people with claiming benefits that often people didn’t know about such as Personal Independence Payment or helping them to access Universal Credit etc. The staff member who runs the group will also call or visit if anyone doesn’t attend to ensure they are safe and well.

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Partnership Working

We work alongside a range of partners including the Violence Reduction Partnership, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Nottinghamshire, Nottinghamshire Police, Castle Cavendish, Nottingham Women’s Centre, The Primary, The National Justice Museum, Al-Hurraya, Take 1 Studios, Nottingham Forest Community Trust and Nottingham Trent University (who researched and wrote a substantial report on the impact of our detached youth work in Nottingham City – https:// tinyurl.com/4n64pj8n).

We are also developing our work with the new Nottingham College to develop mentoring provision for young people who need additional support, who are engaged in courses through their provision.

We thank all our partners and funders for their support, which is vital to enabling us to achieve the results we do for many young people, young adults, and everyone who engages in our projects across Nottingham city. We also thank the community for their continued trust in our organisation to support them in anyway we can.

Governance

Breaking Barriers Building Bridges has a board of trustees that meets on a quarterly basis to review the charities strategy, finances, governance and policies. They work diligently to ensure that the charity continues to evolve but remains committed to our objectives of providing high quality youth and

community development projects, to meet the needs of all individuals we engage across the city of Nottingham.

Induction of Trustees

We are planning on bringing new trustees into the CIO in the coming months and as part of this work we will be developing a trustee induction process. We will be speaking with new trustees to make them aware of the Charity Commission guidance for trustees (CC3), the small charities governance guide and ensuring they are aware of our constitution, as well as core policies to ensure we are equipping them with the information needed to completely fulfil their duties as trustees. As part of this we will also be offering new trustees training through Nottingham CVS so they are fully equipped in terms of their roles as charity trustees.

Reserves Policy

We would like to get to a position of holding at least three months of running costs in reserves to cover gaps between funding. At current levels this would be around £65,323 in expenditure and whilst we currently have £88,182 in funds carried forward, a significant amount is in restricted funds (£76,518) and our unrestricted funds carried forward have depleted to just £11,664. We therefore need to raise unrestricted funds in the coming months to enable financial resilience to be improved upon going forward and this need will be reflected on within our fundraising strategy for the coming three years.

Statement of trustees’ Responsibilities

The trustees are responsible for preparing the trustees’ report and the financial statements in accordance with the United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice) and applicable law and regulations.

The law applicable to charities 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:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008, and the provisions of the constitution. The trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Approved by the trustees of the charity on 29 / 01 / 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

Vanessa Lea McFarlane Trustee

Independent

Examiner’s Report

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Breaking Barriers Building Bridges

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Breaking Barriers Building Bridges (the Charity) for the year ended 31 March 2024.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the trustees of the charity 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 Charity’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 matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in respect of the Charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or
the accounts do not accord with those records; or
the accounts do not comply with the accounting 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.

30 / 01 / 2025 Date:

John O’Brien MSc, FAIA, FCCA, FCIE, employee of Community Accounting Plus Fellow of the Association of Charity Independent Examiners

Units 1 & 2 North West

41 Talbot Street

Nottingham NG1 5GL

Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Unrestricted £ - -	Restricted £ - 244,704	Total 2024 £ - 244,704	Total 2023 £ 30,473 183,859
-	244,704	244,704	214,332
(34,696)	(226,596)	(261,292)	(245,971)
(34,696)	(226,596)	(261,292)	(245,971)
(34,696) 530	18,108 (530)	(16,588) -	(31,639) -
(34,166) 45,830	17,578 58,940	(16,588) 104,770	(31,639) 136,409
11,664	76,518	88,182	104,770

All of the charity’s activities derive from continuing operations during the above two periods. The funds breakdown for the period is shown in note 15.

Unrestricted £ 30,473 4,688	Restricted £ - 179,171	Total 2023 £ 30,473 183,859
35,161	179,171	214,332
(240)	(245,731)	(245,971)
(240)	(245,731)	(245,971)
34,921 (9,558)	(66,560) 9,558	(31,639) -
25,363 20,467	(57,002) 115,942	(31,639) 136,409
45,830	58,940	104,770

Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2024

Note Fixed assets Tangible assets 11 Current assets Debtors 12 Cash at bank and in hand 13 Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year 14 Net current assets Net assets Funds of the charity: Restricted income funds Restricted funds 15 Unrestricted income funds Unrestricted funds Total funds 15	2024 £ 824	2023 £ 720
	27,144 79,805	6,061 101,302
	106,949 (19,591)	107,363 (3,313)
	87,358	104,050
	88,182	104,770
	76,518 11,664	58,940 45,830
	88,182	104,770

The financial statements on pages 16 to 21 were approved by the trustees, and authorised for issue on 29 / 01 / 2025 and signed on their behalf by:

Vanessa Lea McFarlane Trustee

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2023

1. Accounting policies

Statement of compliance

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the second edition of the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice issued in October 2019, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Charities Act 2011.

Basis of preparation

Breaking Barriers Building Bridges meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy notes.

Exemption from preparing a cash flow statement

Under the exemption available to smaller charities the Board of Trustees has chosen not to include a Statement of Cash Flows within the financial statements.

Going concern

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis.

The trustees assess whether the use of going concern is appropriate i.e. whether there are any material uncertainties related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the charity to continue as a going concern. The trustees make this assessment in respect of a period of one year from the date of approval of the financial statements.

Income and endowments

Voluntary income including donations, gifts, legacies and grants that provide core funding or are of a general nature is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the income, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured with sufficient reliability.

Donations and legacies

Donations and legacies are recognised on a receivable basis when receipt is probable and the amount can be reliably measured.

Grants receivable

Grants are recognised when the charity has an entitlement to the funds and any conditions linked to the grants have been met. Where performance conditions are attached to the grant and are yet to be met, the income is recognised as a liability and included on the balance sheet as deferred income to be released.

Expenditure

All expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to that expenditure, it is probable settlement is required and the amount can be measured reliably. All costs are allocated to the applicable expenditure heading that aggregates similar costs to that category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated on a basis consistent with the use of resources, with central staff costs allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges allocated on the portion of the asset’s use. Other support costs are allocated based on the spread of staff costs.

Charitable activities

Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries. It includes both costs that can be allocated directly to such activities and those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support them.

Taxation

The charity is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 of the Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes. Accordingly, the charity is potentially exempt from taxation in respect of income or capital gains received within categories covered by Chapter 3 Part 11 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes.

Tangible fixed assets

Individual fixed assets costing £500.00 or more are initially recorded at cost, less any subsequent accumulated depreciation and subsequent accumulated impairment losses.

Depreciation and amortisation

Depreciation is provided on tangible fixed assets so as to write off the cost or valuation, less any estimated residual value, over their expected useful economic life as follows:

Asset class	Depreciation method and rate
Furniture and equipment	20% straight line
Computer equipment	33% straight line

Trade debtors

Trade debtors are amounts due from customers for merchandise sold or services performed in the ordinary course of business.

Trade debtors are recognised initially at the transaction price. They are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method, less provision for impairment. A provision for the impairment of debtors is established when there is objective evidence that the charity will not be able to collect all amounts due according to the original terms of the receivables.

Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash on hand and call deposits, and other shortterm highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to a known amount of cash and are subject to an insignificant risk of change in value.

Trade creditors

Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of business from suppliers. Accounts payable are classified as current liabilities if the charity does not have an unconditional right, at the end of the reporting period, to defer settlement of the creditor for at least twelve months after the reporting date. If there is an unconditional right to defer settlement for at least twelve months after the reporting date, they are presented as non-current liabilities.

Trade creditors are recognised initially at the transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Borrowings

Interest-bearing borrowings are initially recorded at fair value, net of transaction costs. Interest-bearing borrowings are subsequently carried at amortised cost, with the difference between the proceeds, net of transaction costs, and the amount due on redemption being recognised as a charge to the over the period of the relevant borrowing.

Interest expense is recognised on the basis of the effective interest method and is included in interest payable and similar charges.

Borrowings are classified as current liabilities unless the has an unconditional right to defer settlement of the liability for at least twelve months after the reporting date.

Fund structure

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

Restricted income funds are those donated for use in a particular area or for specific purposes, the use of which is restricted to that area or purpose.

2. Income from donations and legacies

. Income from donations and legacies
Donations and legacies; Donations from companies, trusts and similar proceeds Grants, including capital grants; Grants from companies	Total 2024 £ - -	Total 2023 £ 473 30,000
	-	30,473

3. Income from charitable activities

. Income from charitable activities
Grants & donations Service income	Restricted funds £ 244,704 -	Total 2024 £ 244,704 -	Total 2023 £ 179,171 4,688
	244,704	244,704	183,859

4. Grants and donations

. Grants and donations
Blue Light Castle Cavendish Divert Plus HAF Jones Charitable Trust Million Hours Fund National Jusitce Museum Nottingham Forest Community Trust Nottingham City Detached Project Nottingham Women’s Centre PCC	Unrestricted funds £ - - - - - - - - - - -	Restricted funds £ 39,910 7,180 17,500 14,284 4,800 10,000 3,000 20,050 102,130 2,212 23,638	Total funds £ 39,910 7,180 17,500 14,284 4,800 10,000 3,000 20,050 102,130 2,212 23,638
	-	244,704	244,704

5. Expenditure on charitable activities

Drivers expenses Delivery Equipment, repair & renewals IT costs Insurance Membership & Subscriptions Advertising & promotional Mentoring Purchases Printing & stationery Professional services Travel DBS fees Recruitment Sessional workers Wages, NI & pensions Cleaning Rent Telephone Staf expenses Staf training Staf wellbeing Sundry expenses Volunteer expenses Depreciation Hospitality & refreshments Interest paid	Unrestricted funds General £ - - - - 1,263 - - - - - 6,336 - - - - 25,945 - - - 250 300 190 - - 412 - -	Restricted funds £ 53 14,680 2,002 1,885 - 216 - 253 138 116 9,184 1,999 150 14 5,055 167,511 1,858 19,971 750 571 132 58 - - - - -	Total 2024 £ 53 14,680 2,002 1,885 1,263 216 - 253 138 116 15,520 1,999 150 14 5,055 193,456 1,858 19,971 750 821 432 248 - - 412 - -	Total 2023 £ 1 21,858 176 3,041 716 4 37 - - 220 2,028 1,606 106 29 5,972 184,669 760 19,310 781 319 25 2,705 155 190 240 861 163
	34,696	226,596	261,292	245,971

6. Net incoming/outgoing resources

Net (outgoing)/incoming resources for the year include:

et (outgoing)/incoming resources for the year include:
Depreciation of fxed assets	Total 2024 £ 412	Total 2023 £ 240

7. Staff costs

The aggregate payroll costs were as follows:

Wages and salaries Social security costs Pension costs	Total 2024 £ 181,263 9,300 2,893	Total 2023 £ 173,115 9,272 2,282
	193,456	184,669

The monthly average number of persons (including senior management team) employed by the charity during the year was as follows:

y the charity during the year was as follows:
Average number of employees	2024 No 10	2023 No 9

5 (2023 - 6) of the above employees participated in the Defined Contribution Pension Schemes.

Contributions to the employee pension schemes for the year totalled £2,893 (2023 - £2,282).

No employee received emoluments of more than £60,000 during the year

The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the charity were £54,752 (2023 - £50,123).

8. Independent examiner’s fees

During the period, the fees payable (excluding VAT) to the charity’s independent examiner Community Accounting Plus are analysed as follows:

Independent examination Other fnancial services	2024 £ 875 1,364	2023 £ 750 1,068
	2,239	1,818

9. Taxation

The charity is a registered charity and is therefore exempt from taxation.

10. Trustees remuneration and expenses

Ebony Francis

Ebony Francis received remuneration of £900 (2023: £Nil) during the year. This payment was for support provided for Summer Holiday Activities.

No trustees have received any reimbursed expenses or any other benefits from the charity during the year.

11. Tangible fixed assets

Furniture and equipment £ 1,200 -	Computer equipment £ - 516	Total £ 1,200 516
1,200	516	1,716
480 240	- 172	480 412
720	172	892
480	344	824
720	-	720

12. Debtors

2. Debtors
Trade debtors Prepayments	2024 £ 27,028 116	2023 £ 4,688 1,373
	27,144	6,061

13. Cash and cash equivalents

3. Cash and cash equivalents
Cash on hand Cash at bank	2024 £ 202 79,603	2024 £ 134 101,168
	79,805	101,302

14. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Trade creditors Other taxation and social security Other creditors	2024 £ - 18,086 1,505	2023 £ 1,710 - 1,603
	19,591	3,313

15. Funds

Balance at 1 April 2023 £ (rated) 45,830 - 797 - 5,418 31,976 17,392 530 2,827	Incoming resources £ - 164,424 - 29,324 5,212 19,480 26,264 - -	Resources expended £ (34,696) (140,174) (797) (19,153) (9,092) (23,440) (31,113) - (2,827)	Transfers £ 530 - - - - - - (530) -	Balance at 31 March 2024 £ 11,664 24,250 - 10,171 1,538 28,016 12,543 - -
58,940	244,704	(226,596)	(530)	76,518
104,770	244,704	(226,596)	-	88,182

The specific purposes for which the funds are to be applied are as follows:

City Youth - this is detached outreach around Nottingham City Centre to engage with young people, build relationships and de-escalate conflict between young people and groups of young people.

Women - Funding from various sources for work supporting women in vulnerable situations.

Mentoring - this is 1-2-1 and group mentoring with young people and a qualified and experienced youth worker to identify changes they want to achieve in their lives.

Community - Funding from various sources for work to provide activities for adults within the Radford area of Nottingham.

Office - this relates to the office we refer to as a “Safe Space” where young people can come to remove them from a challenging situation that is available to the team at all hours that are needed. It also covers rental costs for Radford Methodist Church where we run Holiday Activity Fund activities and regular youth club sessions.

Radford Youth - Funding from various sources for youth work within the Radford area of Nottingham.

Youth Worker IT - Funding to purchase iPads for the youth workers.

Holiday Activity Fund - Provision of youth work sessions with 4 school holidays over the year, including healthy hot meals for children entitled to free school meals.

Part of the transfer from the Youth Worker IT fund to the General fund represents the net book value of fixed assets, the use of which is not subject to any restriction.

Part of the transfer from the Youth Worker IT fund to the General fund relates to activities which have ceased, and the release of any restrictions on the use of these funds.

Balance at 1 April 2022 £ 20,467 11,195 7,735 27,199 6,728 33,445 29,640 - -	Incoming resources £ 35,161 89,117 3,772 7,000 10,009 45,882 10,203 530 12,658	Incoming resources £ 35,161 89,117 3,772 7,000 10,009 45,882 10,203 530 12,658	Resources expended £ (240) (103,028) (10,710) (41,041) (11,319) (47,351) (22,451) - (22,451)	Resources expended £ (240) (103,028) (10,710) (41,041) (11,319) (47,351) (22,451) - (22,451)	Transfers £ (9,558) 2,716 - 6,842 - - - - -	Balance at 31 March 2023 £ 45,830 - 797 - 5,418 31,976 17,392 530 2,827
115,942	179,171		(245,731)		9,558	58,940
136,409	214,332		(245,971)		-	104,770


		Unrestricted funds General £ 824 30,431 (19,591)		Restricted £ - 76,518 -		2024 Total funds £ 824 106,949 (19,591)
		11,664		76,518		88,182

16. Analysis of net assets between funds

Tangible fxed assets Current assets Current liabilities Total net assets	Unrestricted funds General £ 720 48,423 (3,313)	Restricted £ - 58,940 -	31 March 2022 Total funds £ 720 107,363 (3,313)
	45,830	58,940	104,770

17. Related party transactions

There were no related party transactions in the year.