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2023-06-30-accounts

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Annual report and financial statements 2022–23

thriveatfive.org.uk Charity number 1195059

DocuSign Envelope ID: AC127206-9B99-4D43-BBE9-F06A0A5827F6

Building the foundations for every child to thrive at age five.

Contents

Letter from our CEO and co-founders ................................................4 Trustees’ report ...................................................................................................8 ............................................24 Legal and administrative information Financial review ..............................................................................................25 Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities ...........................................28 ................................................................29 Independent Auditor’s report ......................................................... 32 Statement of financial activities Balance sheet ................................................................................................... 33 ...........................................................................34 Statement of cash flows ......................................................35 Notes to the financial statements

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Letter from our CEO and co-founders

We are delighted to share with you our annual report for the year ended June 2023.

Thrive at Five’s mission is to help children in their early years develop strong foundations for life and learning.

The organisation is helping more children to reach a good level of development at five by providing support from pregnancy to age five in the UK’s most disadvantaged communities. Thrive at Five works in places where babies and children are most at risk of not achieving their potential by the end of their first year at school, committing to multi-year support to deliver sustainable and long-term change. We know that sustainable improvement in early years outcomes takes time. We are:

There have been many positive developments in the past 12 months and we are greatly encouraged by the recognition of our progress in Stoke-on-Trent, our first pathfinder area. Jon Rouse, Stoke-on-Trent City Director, described what we have achieved in a year as “exceptional” including the increasing number of parents and partners who are engaging with the work and the early positive signs revealed by our evaluations.

Our ambition is to develop a nationally replicable, place-based model that will help many children thrive and reach their potential. There is already an appetite for Thrive at Five from local authorities in other cities and regions which has led to a second pathfinder area in the northeast. With the commitment and support from Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and the Cleveland Unit for the Reduction of Violence, we will start work in this coastal area in North Yorkshire in the next financial year.

Building capacity to enable collaboration between the public, private and voluntary sectors. Our place-based, local teams bring the local early childhood system together and work with local stakeholders to develop and strengthen the system. This team acts as a critical friend, catalysing activity and stewarding relationships.

Ensuring parents and carers are at the heart of shaping and delivering solutions. We recruit and train local parents and carers as parent champions, providing a bridge between parents, practitioners and services. We are increasing the skills and confidence of parents and opening pathways to employment.

The context of helping children in their early years is challenging and our work feels even more necessary now than when we set out on this journey.

Channeling additional funding and expertise

into local areas. Thrive at Five is a national organisation with a wealth of early years’ experience in its staff as well as its board and advisory council. Our wide network of expert support ensures our place-based programmes are guided by evidence and data.

In 2022, fewer than 50% of children eligible for free school meals reached a good level of development. The average gap in months between those children who are on track age five and those who are not has gone up to 4.8 months[1] .

Parents and carers have a critical role in supporting their children’s development through pregnancy and in the earliest years. In our communities, cost of living pressure on families have significantly increased reducing their capacity to provide nurturing care. According to research from Little Village, supported by analysis from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation “ 1.3 million of the 4.2 million children in poverty in the UK are babies and children under the age of five ”.[2]

When times are hard, it is even more important that everybody pulls together and that we unlock the power of communities. Thrive at Five provides capacity for promoting community engagement and we remain focused on listening to communities in Stoke-on-Trent and building trusting relationships.

During this past year, we have been able to translate our early work in Stoke-on-Trent into the delivery of several inter-connected workstreams, supporting pregnant mums, parents and carers as well as babies, toddlers and children. Thrive at Five’s approach mean these workstreams are the product of consultation and co-development with numerous individuals and organisations.

“1.3 million of the 4.2 million children in poverty in the UK are babies and children under the age of five.”

1 The Education Policy Institute Annual Report 2023 2 Over one million under 5s living in poverty in the UK, a new report by Little Village finds - Little Village ( littlevillagehq.org )

Among our achievements this year in Bentilee and Abbey Hulton, in Stoke-on-Trent, we are proud to have:

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Appreciation and thanks

The journey to deliver long-term, sustainable impact is due to the generous support of our donors and collaboration with the many partners and other stakeholders that we work with as well as:

Donors:

With particular thanks for the pro bono contribution of Ashley Roughton ( ipchambers.eu ) and Allen & Overy.

The Denise Coates Foundation; LEGO Group and LEGO Foundation; Ethos Foundation; Stoke-on-Trent City Council; KPMG Foundation; MariaMarina Foundation; Segelman Trust; Dulverton Trust; Peter and Susie Stevenson.

Collaborators:

National: Centre for Evidence and

Abbey Hulton Primary, Our Lady & St Benedict Catholic Academy, Kingsland C.E. Academy, St Maria Goretti Catholic Academy, Eaton Park Academy, Maple Court Academy, Sneyd Academy, Bentilee Nursery, Rosy Cheeks Nursery, Tiny Toez nursery, Little Explorers Nursery, St John’s Church (Abbey Hulton), St Stephen’s Church (Bentilee), Breathe New Life Church, Stoke-on-Trent YMCA, National Literacy Trust, Made in Stoke-on-Trent Network, The Alice Charity, Sutton Community Trust, Voluntary Action Stoke on Trent (VAST), NSPCC, Hazelhurst Trust, Bentilee Volunteers, Mothers Mind, The Peter Pan Centre, Parent Engagement Group in Stoke (Pegis), Just Family CIC, Carers First, Affordable Foods, Breast Feeding Network, Standing Tall Together, Stoke-on-Trent Mums, Cultural Zebra, The Green Doctor.

Implementation, Dartington Service Design LAB, Isos Partnership, National Literacy Trust, Nesta (A Fairer Start mission), Ox Ed & Assessment, Parent Engagement Network.

Stoke-on-Trent partners: Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust, Staffordshire and

Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board, Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care System, Stoke-on-Trent City Council Public Health, Hanley, Bucknell & Bentilee Primary Care Network, Office of the Fire Police and Crime Commissioner (Staffordshire), The Hubb Foundation, Stoke City Football Club, Staffordshire University, Keele University, Stoke-on-Trent City College, Alpha Academy Trust, Orchard Academy Trust, St Bart’s Multi Academy Trust, Carmountside Primary Academy,

Larissa Joy OBE

Aida Cable

Grant Gordon OBE

Co-Founder and Co-Chair Chief Executive

Co-Founder and Co-Chair

Thank you

Date: 5 March 2024

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Trustees’ report

The Trustees present their second annual report and financial statements, covering the year ended 30 June 2023.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the charity’s governing document, the Charities Act 2011 and “ Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice Applicable to charities preparing their account in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) ” (effective 1 January 2019).

Objectives and activities

Thrive at Five works in places where babies and children are most at risk of not achieving their potential by the end of their first year at school, committing to multi-year support to deliver sustainable and long-term change.

Thrive at Five’s mission is to help children in their early years develop strong foundations for life and learning.

In this past year we have been intensely focused on our trailblazer pathfinder programme in Stoke-on-Trent and have laid the groundwork for a second pathfinder programme in Redcar and Cleveland . Our second area, Redcar, was selected in part due to high levels of child poverty in the community, as evidenced below:

Number of children reaching a “Good Level of Development” in Redcar and Cleveland:

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67.7% 51.5% 44.4%
(n=943) (n=175) (n=75)
All Children Boys eligible
eligible for free for free
school meals school meals
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Figures – Department for Education 2023
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Thrive at Five works alongside communities:

Thrive at Five’s approach is to test, learn and refine a replicable model that can be rolled out nationally. We have already shared our work through the staff team presenting at national events and the Department for Education have visited our programme in Stoke-on-Trent and seen our new early language and communication project. In support of developing the model to be replicable, we have enhanced our capability to capture the Thrive at Five model while evaluating its impact through the appointment of two new partners. Our learning partners are the Isos Partnership, led by Simon Day and Jodie Reed, and, for evaluation, the Centre for Evidence and Implementation, with a team led by Jane Lewis.

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The Thrive at Five approach

Thrive at Five’s support for communities is guided by the principles of collective impact and delivered by dedicated local teams alongside our national team, Trustee Board, and an Advisory Council.

In Stoke-on-Trent, 75% of the area team has been recruited from the local community. As we build and strengthen the local team in the next year, we expect that percentage to increase.

Our national team has grown with the recruitment of a Head of Development and Partnerships and a Senior Research and Evaluation Manager.

We were delighted to welcome Liz Stanton onto the Trustee Board as Treasurer. She is a former audit partner in the London office of Ernst & Young where she became head of the UK firm’s Quality and Risk Management function. Elizabeth works with several charities, including Ambitious about Autism, as the trustee responsible for finance.

We were also delighted to welcome to our Advisory Council, Professor Jacqueline Barnes (Institute for the Study of Children, Family and Social Issues at Birbeck, University of London), Dr Gayle Munro (National Centre for Social Research) and Laura Barbour (The Sutton Trust).

Working in collaboration

Thrive at Five unites communities around a common agenda to improve outcomes in early childhood.

In each place we work, Thrive at Five is co-funded by the local authority and other public sector bodies, alongside philanthropic support from trusts, foundations, individuals and companies.

Through a three stage process, our support strengthens connections in the community, provides opportunities for all voices to be heard and allows everybody to contribute to the development and delivery of data and evidence informed solutions.

The local team builds on these important first partnerships creating a strong network of relationships between parents and carers and early years organisations (from the public, private and voluntary sectors), and between the early years organisations , strengthening trust and social capital within the community.

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the early years organisations , strengthening
trust and social capital within the community.
Discovery
Mapping the gaps in
support for babies,
children and families,
and identifying assets
in the community.
Co-design
& implement
Using the data
from Discovery and
evidence to co-design
Improve & embed
strategies, supporting
Working with an implentation.
internal and external
evaluation team to
test, learn and refine.
Identifying sustainable
ways to embed things
that work.
iscovery
D
C
d o
-
e
d
b
e
m s
i
e g
& n
e &
v i
o m
rpm elp
I tnem
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Jon Rouse, City Director, Stoke-on-Trent City Council
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Thriving in the Early Years

Our conference in February 2023 – Thriving in the Early Years – afforded a chance to share our vision and progress and to strengthen local collaboration.

We were delighted to be joined by over 70 people – parents, practitioners, voluntary organisations and public sector – all passionate about accelerating better early years outcomes.

“It was amazing to see all these professionals come together and look at the next steps for Thrive at Five and how we can move forward, put things into action, look at current research and what is out there and bring it all together really to work together.”

Louise Davies, Early Years Foundation Lead

“Thrive at Five is

the super glue.”

Marie Procter, Nursery Teacher

Outcomes-focused workstreams

Success for Thrive at Five will be measured by assessing the progress of children towards expected levels of development at five and the improvement in the number of children achieving or exceeding a Good Level of Development (GLD) at the end of reception year.

In the earliest years, the social and emotional development of babies and children is shaped by their immediate environments, and this in turn builds the foundations for life and learning. Thrive at Five is focussing its work on five intermediate outcome areas with a causal, evidence-based link to children reaching a Good Level of Development:

Through the Discovery and Co-Design work with our partners in Stoke-on-Trent, we have identified nine complementary workstreams which align and bolster local early years strategies and contribute towards the five intermediate outcome areas. It is the mutually reinforcing combination of the workstreams that will ensure that babies and children and their parents and carers, have access to quality support from pregnancy to the end of reception .

Workstreams

ENABLING WORKSTREAMS DIRECT IMPACT WORKSTREAM
Community
engagement
1
Communication
2Events
3Volunteers/training
4Parents views
and voices
Strengthen
practice
Workforce
upskilling
Early years
academy
Strengthening
the system		 Supporting parent infant relationship
Quality parent baby toddler groups
and Parent Champions
Ready Steady Stoke
Talking Time
PEEP Learning Together
Nuffeld Early Language

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Achievements and performance in Stoke-on-Trent

“What Thrive at Five has achieved

in a year has been exceptional.”

Jon Rouse, City Director, Stoke-on-Trent City Council

Summary

Thanks to the commitment of all our partners and supporters, Thrive at Five is supporting pregnant mums and approximately 3,000 babies and children in the wards of Abbey Hulton and Bentilee in Stoke-on-Trent. In the past year, we have started to see our approach changing ways of working across the city, to support a total population of around 20,000 0-5-year-olds. By sharing our learning widely, we are trying to influence work nationally.

This year in Stoke-on-Trent, we have established cross-sector working groups who are shaping and delivering solutions with and for local parents and carers, and proactively engaged with local governance boards to help inform their strategies around the early years[3,4] , including the implementation of the local authority’s Family Hubs programme.

We have recruited our first paid Parent Champions supplementing the growing number of volunteer parent champions. Our parent champions support parents by providing practical advice and support and signposting to services that a family might need from time to time. The local authority has adopted this initiative across Stoke-on-Trent by employing parents as “Early Life Workers” in their Family Hubs.

Together with our partners, Thrive at Five has increased support for parental wellbeing and opportunities for improving parent/infant relationships and home learning environments. This included creating eight new free parent, baby and toddler groups in partnership with community groups and local school nurseries. Together with partners, we are bucking the national and local trend of groups closing due to lack of capacity and financial pressures.

3 Including the Voluntary Sector Children’s Safeguarding Board, Pan Staffordshire Children and Young Peoples VCSE Group, Pan Staffordshire Mental Health Group, Healthy Communities ICB VCSE Group, Early Help and Prevention Board, Early Years Board, City Forum, Family Hub Delivery Group.

4 Including Statutory partners across health, local authority and the Office of the Fire and Police and Crime Commissioner, Local Faith groups, Caudwell Children, Peter Pan Centre, National Literacy Trust, VAST and other hyper local organisations.

In addition, Thrive at Five has:

5 Progress was made when children received at least 50% of the intervention.

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Progress in the area

Support from pregnancy to age two: expanding parent, baby and toddler provision.

Social isolation and parental wellbeing were key issues identified during the Discovery phase of the work in Stoke-on-Trent. Parents told us that their poor mental health was linked to the lack of places to go with their children; concerns about the cost-of-living and lack of sufficient professional support.

Aside from three small, weekly groups run by voluntary and community organisations, parents with babies and toddlers had nowhere to go that was free and easily accessible. Our early surveys in Stoke-on-Trent revealed that over half (52.5%) of parents never or rarely met up with other parents of babies and toddlers, and they did not have places for them or their children to socialise. In one example, where there is a space available, the Treehouse Children’s Centre, it was barely used and seen by many as a place for families needing help from social care and therefore not widely used.

“I get lots out of the play groups. I get to chat to other mums and grandparents, it’s sociable and it helps with my mental health. I would just be indoors doing the same routine day in day out, so it’s nice to have that break. It’s lovely - these groups are amazing. Without them I think it would be really terrible. The children and the grandparents and parents would miss out, they are lovely groups.”

Grandparent, Stoke-on-Trent

x4

This year, our support has enabled a fourfold increase in places for families to go.

Our working group of local stakeholders including parents, nursery and school staff, local charities, health visitors, paediatric nurses, the Early Help Forum, the Stoke City Music Service - Early Years Programme, and The Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Maternity Voices Partnership, has helped drive the establishment of eight new, free groups.

This year, our support has enabled a four-fold increase in places for families to go.

Nurseries and schools provide staff and space while Thrive at Five’s new parent champions make parents feel welcome and supported. The groups create opportunities for interactions between parents and professionals, including Special Educational Needs and Disabilities specialists, health visitors, speech and language therapists and early support workers, in an informal environment – with no judgement or stigma.

We are excited by the potential to establish new groups and plans are afoot for three more next year and, with school nurseries fully onboard, we can aim for the provision of high quality and sustainable support. The existing groups already create much needed capacity to reach parents with support for their mental health and to equip them through advice and guidance. As the project develops, we will introduce evidenced training programmes, ensuring staff can support secure parent/ child relationships and rich home learning environments and, in turn, the social and emotional development of babies and toddlers.

Laura’s story

“ He’s talking more, he is a lot more forward with what he is doing, …he does more than he used to, he can pick up and grab things and share .”

Laura lives in Bentilee and struggles with feelings of isolation and depression. Laura cares for her one year old nephew and wanted to get out of the house more and speak to other mums but didn’t feel like there were any groups which kept her nephew entertained without costing money. Laura started attending one of our local parent, baby and toddler groups.

Laura finds that speaking to other mums in the group offers her emotional support when she is feeling low.

“ It was something to do for all of us, …it’s somewhere to have time with my nephew and friends and it can pick you up in the morning. If you are having a bad day, you know for a fact that as soon as you come in, you have a quick chat with some of the mums and you feel so much better by the end of it .”

“ There isn’t much you can do without spending an arm and a leg to travel to Timbuktu to go somewhere. There is nothing local. You can go to a local library but when they are as young as they are, they don’t particularly want to sit for ages, whereas [at the parent, baby and toddler group] we have got all the bits and bobs out everywhere. It’s so much more fun for them. There isn’t really much to do outside this without spending lots of money which some mums don’t have .”

Laura feels that the regular routine of the parent, baby and toddler groups has improved her mental health.

“ For somebody coming with a lot of depression, you feel a lot better afterwards, even just getting out, having something per week ticks that box for not sitting doing nothing all day every day. For me, it’s my mental health that it’s helped .”

Laura has also noticed an improvement in her nephew’s communication and fine motor skills.

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Supporting smooth transition to nursery and school: Ready Steady Stoke year two

In our initial Discovery process, nurseries and schools told us about the challenges they face with too many new pupils being significantly behind in their development. The problem was exacerbated by the Covid pandemic.

Our first project, Ready Steady Stoke, supported children’s transition into their nursery and school in September 2022. Developing on the progress made, we supported the roll out of Ready Steady Stoke for a second year and saw greater uptake from partners and parents. The key outcomes across all the seven schools in our ward included:

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600
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followers on
Ready Steady Stoke
Facebook
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400

Supporting early language and communication for three to five year-olds: Nuffield Early Language Intervention

In 2021, schools had told us they could not deliver the Government-funded programme to support children’s early language and development due to a lack of capacity.

Our learning will inform roll out in a second year as we continue to provide additional capacity for a stretched teacher workforce and valued on-the-job training for students, and support for children’s early, language and communication skills.

In our seven local schools, great numbers of children (sometimes the majority of the class) required the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (“NELI”) but there were too few teachers to deliver an intervention that is designed for small group delivery.

In this past year, Thrive at Five supported the co-design of a solution with all the local schools and Staffordshire University, working alongside Professor Charles Hulme and the team at OxEd and Assessment Ltd. Undergraduate students from a variety of early years related degree courses trained to undertake voluntary placements and to deliver NELI. The project has proved to be successful with both children and students benefiting. Children have access to critical support, with measurable improvements in language and communications for those that received consistent support. The experience also builds the confidence and skills of students, encouraging some to commit to careers as early years teachers.

“I had been allocated a little girl who suffered with selective mutism (when a child cannot speak in certain settings). She had met all the criteria to be offered the NELI intervention. From the moment I sat down within the group, I could tell we had made a connection, her smile told me this, no words needed. I would collect her from the classroom in silence - with not even a hello - but by reducing her anxiety [when delivering the intervention], this little girl began to talk - I found it hard to stop her sometimes! Her anxiety switched her voice off in social situations but within our little group she felt confident to speak out.”

The pilot year of the partnership between schools and Staffordshire University to deliver the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (“NELI”) shows great promise and the outcomes included:

Jacqueline Thedens, NELI Cohort, Staffordshire University Student

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Nadiyah’s story

Nadiyah is a family support worker at a local primary academy and, with the support of Thrive at Five, now runs one of the parent, baby and toddler groups.

“ They [Thrive at Five] are obviously at the heart of everything we do every week at the parent, baby and toddler group… This, for me, is the highlight of my week, I plan what we will do. I am so involved. My garage and conservatory are full of stuff! I say “don’t touch that, that’s for toddlers’ group; we are saving egg boxes, that’s for toddler groups!”. I am doing something the children will enjoy .”

Nadiyah shared that she wanted to keep her parent, baby and toddler group running over the summer holidays, but her school had to shut due to building work. Thrive at Five used their partnership with the local authority to secure free space at the local family hub.

“ We have been able to access space to keep the group running as it’s such a shame if everything shuts down over the six-week holidays. It is down to Thrive at Five we have had this amazing opportunity .”

Parent engagement

Parent voice

Listening to parents, they reported that they didn’t feel connected to the decisions affecting their family life. Parents and carers are at the heart of Thrive at Five’s work. It was their experience and insight that led to us supporting the growth of new parent, baby and toddler groups, to provide freely accessible, safe and non-judgmental spaces.

We continue to listen and have established

Parents Views and Voices as a means of

listening to the community and ensuring there are opportunities to share ideas, reflections and challenges and to co-design approaches that are relevant and meaningful.

Nadiyah also joined Thrive at Five’s pregnancy to 2 working group so she could meet others working in the area. Together, the pregnancy to 2 working group realised that they have parent, baby and toddler groups but did not have anywhere for pregnant mothers to go. So they created a new group called “Bentilee Bumps”. Thrive at Five were able to connect Nadiyah with midwifery services so they are now able to send a member of their team to attend each session and offer professional advice.

“ That’s an innovation we wouldn’t have had access to without the working group… it is making that link, not allowing schools to just work in isolation, not just focus on education .”

Volunteering and parent champions

A disappointment this year has been the loss of our first regular volunteers – our LEGO DUPLO Champions – for the positive reason that they have all secured employment. Recognising the importance of paid employment, we are now recruiting and training paid parent champions to be trusted and knowledgeable points of contact in the community.

Our LEGO DUPLO Champions are still keen to be involved when they can, particularly during the holidays, and we are increasing numbers of parents and grandparents who want to be involved. Some, calling themselves “Thrive Parents” are volunteering in parent baby and

toddler groups, and we are referring others for training to become:

Community events

Collaborating with our parents and stakeholders, we have engaged even more parents through:

“A parent I have been trying to reach out to for some time arrived with her two-year-old son and three-month-old daughter. It was fantastic to see her, she has lived on the estate all her life and I know that she rarely leaves the house with the children. I was so happy to see her get the confidence to attend the event!”

Tabatha Snow, Paid Parent Champion

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Strengthening practice

As well as introducing well evidenced training and interventions, we continue to share best practice by hosting leading experts from the UK and internationally – to early years professionals in Stoke-on-Trent.

• Ofsted webinar for Stoke stakeholders and professionals

We hosted a webinar with Gill Jones HMI (Deputy Director, Schools and Education Policy Ofsted) and Dr Julian Grenier CBE (Early Education Lead, Ofsted) to share why early years are a key priority for Ofsted and their recommendations for inspections. Webinar attendees reported “feeling energised and reassured”.

Improving the system

We have worked with partners in Stoke-on-Trent to listen to the challenges and co-design solutions together, to support the system to work more effectively together. For example, working together with schools, the local authority and local parents to adapt their processes, we have enabled schools to get access to parent data earlier. This will allow nursery and school engagement with parents to begin earlier than it has in previous years.

Over the last year, we have also expanded the breadth of our stakeholder relationships and we are helping to make connections between organisations (e.g., several SEND groups and the Early Help Forum)[6] . Fragmentation in the early years system runs deep and Thrive at Five is playing an important role in convening and supporting organisations to collaborate. We are building relationships between the City Council and community organisations including collaborating to scale up parent, baby and toddler groups and working alongside the City Council to scale up parenting programmes.

Outlook

We are pleased to see, through our work in Stoke-on-Trent, the progress that we can make when people work together and we are at an exciting inflection point as we start work in our second pathfinder area, Redcar and Cleveland. By the end of the next financial year, we will have plans in place to identify 3rd and 4th pathfinder areas.

6 Including The New Vic Theatre, Barts, Alice Charity and the Bread and Butter Thing project.

Plans for Stoke-on-Trent and Redcar and Cleveland

Over the coming year, as well as continued implementation and embedding of existing workstreams, we will seek to reach more families in Stoke-on-Trent with a focus on those who are seldom heard and who are not accessing any services.

In Stoke-on-Trent we plan to:

In Redcar and Cleveland , we shall start to “lift and shift” the Thrive at Five approach, learning from our trailblazer programme in Stoke-on-Trent. We plan to:

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Learning, monitoring and evaluation

In the next year, we will continue to work with the Isos Partnership to document our learning and to produce a first version of the Thrive at Five “playbook”. This how-to guide will support the roll out and scaling of Thrive at Five into new pathfinder sites.

By 2024, our external evaluators, the Centre for Evidence and Implementation, will be fully onboarded. They will be supporting us to understand the impact of our work and ways of refining our approach to optimise its potential to improve outcomes for babies and children in their early years.

Legal and administrative information

Registered office

Charity number

Trustees

73 Cornhill London EC3V 3QQ

L Joy OBE 1195059

G Gordon OBE

Independent auditors

M Davies MA, MSc

Gerald Edelman LLP 73 Cornhill London EC3V 3QQ

L Holst Dr J Grenier CBE B Levinson OBE

Legal advisers

Stone King LLP Boundary House 91 Charterhouse Street London EC1M 6HR

R Radhakrishnan (resigned 13 June 2023)

Bankers

E Stanton (appointed 13 June 2023)

CAF Bank

Kings Hill West Malling Kent ME19 4JQ

Financial review

Income

Total income for the financial year ended 30 June 2023 was £1,593,034 (2022: £1,401,306) of which £584,343 was restricted to activities in Stoke and £112,500 was restricted to activities in Redcar.

Expenditure

Total expenditure amounted to £824,167 (2022: £376,183) and is analysed below.

Grant funding of activities

Staff and support costs

Staff and support costs comprised approximately 60% of total expenditure at £479,013 (2022: £174,711). Recruiting and investing in the right staff is critical to the success of Thrive at Five, which builds capacity in communities, and enables collaboration across the public, private and voluntary sector. The staff team deploys knowledge, expertise, and resources to achieve sustainable change in early years outcomes.

During the year we made grants to various organisations in Abbey Hulton and Bentilee (in Stoke-on-Trent) to support families with essential help (e.g. hygiene banks, clothing) to aid with the cost-of-living crisis. These amounted to £11,600.

Evaluation costs

We are committed to capturing the learning from evaluating and demonstrating the impact of our work. As such we engaged the ISOS partnership to perform the role of learning partner during the year and have incurred costs amounting to £14,086.

Fundraising activities

Our fundraising activities, including our fundraising consultant and database accounted for £37,090 (2022: £52,400) of our total expenditure.

Free unrestricted reserves

As part of our effective financial management, we will hold unrestricted reserves that support the organisation’s mission to deliver sustainable and long-term change in order that the charity will be able to continue its activities in the case of any of the eventualities described below ensuring that Thrive at Five can:

Discovery and co-design costs

During the year we engaged The University of Edinburgh to undertake a review of the Scottish Early Years System which amounted to £12,300.

Programmatic activities

Our programmatic activities included: a second year of the Ready Steady Stoke project – supporting school/parent engagement and children’s smooth transition into nursery and school; an increase in the number of parent baby toddler groups in Stoke-on-Trent; a first year of the augmented delivery of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention using students from Staffordshire University to deliver the course and bringing in additional, peripatetic teachers (seconded by Alpha Academy) to support the coordination and delivery of the course across 7 primary schools; co-ordination of the Super Saturday community engagement events and our inaugural conference “Thriving in the Early Years”. We incurred £86,196 on these workstreams to end of June.

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The Board of Trustees will review the above criteria annually with reference to Thrive at Five’s strategy and annual business plan and the level of free reserves to meet these.

The Trustees take a prudent approach regarding the investment of surplus funds. The Trustees have considered the most appropriate policy for investing funds is currently within our savings bank accounts.

Restricted Funds

The charity holds restricted funds as detailed in note 18. The balance held at 30 June 2023 was £659,999 (30 June 2022: £409,475).

Risk management practices

The Trustees have reviewed the risks associated with the charity’s operations and have developed policies designed to mitigate such risks to a reasonable level. Such policies will be regularly reviewed and updated.

Members of the Finance and Risk committee discuss the risk register and related mitigation strategies, as maintained by the Charity, before all trustees review the register. Risks are scored according to the likelihood and impact of the risk occurring. The changes to the risks are reviewed alongside the actions being taken to mitigate the risks.

The table below highlights the key strategic risks that have been identified and explains how these risks are being mitigated within the Charity.

Prioritising safeguarding of children and vulnerable people

The Charity accords the highest priority to managing safeguarding risk and all staff undertake annual safeguarding training for child protection as well as Prevent training to support people susceptible to radicalisation. The Charity has a comprehensive safeguarding policy, which is reviewed annually, and which was designed in conjunction with a safeguarding expert. Staff in contact with preschool children are required to attend in person paediatric first aid training. Our safeguarding leads are staff members (one national and one for each pathfinder programme) alongside a Trustee with overall responsible for safeguarding, and each of these individuals has professional experience in this critical area. We have designed a clear process should a breach of the policy be identified or suspected.

Protecting personal data

The Charity has GDPR policies which are reviewed annually by the Finance and Risk committee. The policy ensures that staff have access only to data required for the task in hand. The Charity also ensures that employees, volunteers, and trustees understand the policies and has processes to protect personal data.

Ensuring adequacy of funds

The Charity is committed to our long-term objectives of delivering systemic improvement in outcomes for children in the early years in our pathfinder sites. Each pathfinder is planned on the basis of a five-year investment horizon. As such the ability to raise long-term multi-year funding commitments to implement our vision is key to our success. The Charity’s growth plans are contingent on securing pledged funds and we continually review our funding pipeline and weight the likelihood of securing these. To mitigate the risk to our income we have grant agreements in place for all our key donors.

The Charity recognises that the success of the Thrive at Five methodology is contingent upon the ability to demonstrate the impact we are having in the community. The Charity has partnered with Centre for Evidence and Implementation (CEI) to evaluate our programmes. The management and roll-out of our programmes are carefully designed and we are working with credible partners who use best practice methodology. Local Early years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP) data is gathered and analysed on an annual basis. Our internal learning and impact team carry out pilot-year evaluations of workstreams drawing on quantitative and qualitative data. In Stoke-on-Trent, our first pathfinder, we are working with the public health team to strengthen their data gathering and measurement system which will support Thrive at Five’s evaluation to inform improvements in the local early years system.

Gathering data to demonstrate impact

Retaining key staff and succession planning

The organisation has developed succession plans for senior roles to include, external and internal development of staff. We have ensured that all files are saved on a central cloud-based site, that is accessed by key personnel. We ensure that the senior leadership team have oversight across the whole organisation and all key developments.

Safeguarding staff

The Charity recognises that it is important to ensure that our staff feel safe while working in the community. We have policies in place to ensure that our staff are not placed in difficult situations and that we have the necessary escalation measures in place.

Staff

Structure, governance and management

The charity was established by a constitution dated 5 July 2021 and was formed as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. The charity is governed under its Constitution adopted on incorporation.

Thrive at Five has eight employees including a Chief Executive, Aida Cable, who has responsibility for developing the charity’s strategic plan. Of the eight paid employees, five are in the national team and three in the Stoke local area team, the Stoke team also has the benefit of a full-time secondee from the Alpha Academy. We are supported by our consultant financial director, and a fundraising consultant.

Governance

The Trustees consider that the Board of Trustees to be the key organ of governance for the organisation in charge of directing and controlling how the charity achieves its mission while managing risk. All trustees gave their time freely and no trustees received remuneration in the year. In the past year one Trustee, Radhika Radhakrishnan has resigned due to competing work commitments. The role has been filled by Elizabeth Stanton. Together the Board of Trustees bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to enhance the charity’s governance and strategic planning. The Trustees meet formally four times a year under the joint chairmanship of Grant Gordon OBE and Larissa Joy OBE.

The Trustees who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:

L Joy OBE

G Gordon OBE

M Davies MA, MSc

L Holst

Dr J Grenier CBE

B Levinson OBE

R Radhakrishnan (resigned 13 June 2023) E Stanton (appointed 13 June 2023)

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The Board of Trustees as a body can appoint new members to act on behalf of the charity under the statutory power given to them. On appointment new trustees are appraised of the constitution, financial and all other relevant matters appertaining to the charity. They are also advised as to the responsibilities placed upon them as trustees pursuant to charity law and good practice. Where considered necessary appropriate training is provided both initially and on an ongoing basis.

have complied with their duty to have due regards to the guidance on public benefit issued by the Charity Commission, in the exercise of their powers and responsibilities as detailed in the trust deed and under charity law.

Disclosure of information to auditor

Each of the Trustees has confirmed that there is no information of which they are aware which is relevant to the audit, but of which the auditor is unaware. They have further confirmed that they have taken appropriate steps to identify such relevant information and to establish that the auditor is aware of such information.

Public benefit statement

The Trustees confirm that in their opinion, they

The Trustees’ report was approved by the Board of Trustees.

G Gordon OBE

E Stanton Trustee

Trustee

Date: 5 March 2024

Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities

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

The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity for that year.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping sufficient 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 Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed. They 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.

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

Independent Auditor’s Report

to the Trustees of Thrive at Five

Opinion

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

We have audited the financial statements of Thrive at Five (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 30 June 2023 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The Trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

In our opinion, the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the Trustees use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

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Independent Auditor’s Report (continued) to the Trustees of Thrive at Five

Our audit procedures were primarily directed towards testing the accounting systems in operation upon which we have based our assessment of the financial statements for the period ended 30 June 2023.

Responsibilities of Trustees

We planned our audit so that we have a reasonable expectation of detecting material misstatements in the financial statements resulting from irregularities, fraud or noncompliance with law or regulations.

As explained more fully in the statement of Trustees responsibilities, the Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non- compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of noncompliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below.

Independent Auditor’s Report (continued) to the Trustees of Thrive at Five

Our examination should therefore not be relied upon to disclose all such material misstatements or frauds, errors or instances of non-compliance that might exist. The responsibility for safeguarding the assets of the company and for the prevention and detection of fraud, error and non-compliance with law or regulations rests with the directors.

To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https:// www.frc.org.uk/ auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

In response to the risk of irregularities and noncompliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but are not limited to:

Other matters

Your attention is drawn to the fact that the charity has prepared financial statements in accordance with “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)” (as amended) in preference to the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice issued on 1 April 2005 which is referred to in the extant regulations but has now been withdrawn.

The test nature and other inherent limitations of an audit, together with the inherent limitations of any accounting and internal control system, mean that there is an unavoidable risk that even some material misstatements in respect of irregularities may remain undiscovered even though the audit is properly planned and performed in accordance with ISAs (UK). Furthermore, the more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely that we would become aware of non-compliance.

This has been done in order for the financial statements to provide a true and fair view in accordance with current Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Stephen Coleman ACA (Senior Statutory Auditor) for and on behalf of Gerald Edelman LLP

Chartered Accountants Statutory Auditor 73 Cornhill, London EC3V 3QQ

Gerald Edelman LLP is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charity by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

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DocuSign Envelope ID: AC127206-9B99-4D43-BBE9-F06A0A5827F6

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2023

Unrestricted Restricted Total Unrestricted Restricted Total
funds funds funds funds
2023 2023 2023 2022 2022 2022
Notes £ £ £ £ £ £
Income
Donations and legacies 3 884,575 696,843 1,581,418 786,334 533,333 1,319,667
Investments 4 11,616 - 11,616 80 - 80
Other income 5 - - - 35,438 46,121 81,559
Total income 896,191 696,843 1,593,034 821,852 579,454 1,401,306
Expenditure on:
Raising funds 6 37,090 - 37,090 52,400 - 52,400
Charitable activities 7 340,758 446,319 787,077 153,804 169,979 323,783
Total expenditure 377,848 446,319 824,167 206,204 169,979 376,183
Net income for the year/
Net movement in funds 518,343 250,524 768,867 615,648 409,475 1,025,123
Fund balances at 1 July 2022 615,648 409,475 1,025,123 - - -
Fund balances at 30 June 2023 1,133,991 659,999 1,793,990 615,648 409,475 1,025,123

BALANCE SHEET AS AT 30 JUNE 2023

Notes
Fixed assets
Tangible assets
13
Investments
14
Current assets
Debtors
15
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors: amounts falling
due within one year
16
Net current assets
Total assets less current liabilities
Income funds
Restricted funds
17
Unrestricted funds		 2023
2022
£
£
£
£
3,919
3,614
1
1
3,920
3,615
200,000
200,000
1,703,179
869,456
1,903,179
1,069,456
(113,109)
(47,948)
1,790,070
1,021,508
1,793,990
1,025,123
659,999
409,475
1,133,991
615,648
1,793,990
1,025,123

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

The financial statements were approved by the Trustees on 5 March 24.

G Gordon OBE Trustee

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STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2023

Notes
Cash fows from operating activities
Cash generated from operations
21
Investing activities
Purchase of tangible fxed assets
Purchase of investments
Investment income received
Net cash generated from/(used in)
investing activities
Net cash used in fnancing activities
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year		 2023
2022
£
£
£
£
823,879
873,396
(1,772)
(4,019)
-
(1)
11,616
80
9,844
(3,940)
-
-
833,723
869,456
869,456
-
1,703,179
869,456

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2023

1. Accounting policies

Charity information

Thrive at Five is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is 73 Cornhill, London, EC3V 3QQ. The charity was incorporated 5 July 2021 and commenced operations at that date.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity’s governing document, the Charities Act 2011, FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the Charities SORP “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to 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). The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.

The financial statements have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a true and fair view. This departure has involved following the Statement of Recommended Practice for charities applying FRS 102 rather than the version of the Statement of Recommended Practice which is referred to in the Regulations but which has since been withdrawn.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.

At the time of approving the financial statements, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the Trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

1.3 Charitable funds

Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.

1.4 Income

Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.

Legacies are recognised on receipt or otherwise if the charity has been notified of an impending distribution, the amount is known, and receipt is expected. If the amount is not known, the legacy is treated as a contingent asset.

Government grants are recognised at the fair value of the asset received or receivable when there is reasonable assurance that the grant conditions will be met and the grants will be received.

A grant that specifies performance conditions is recognised in income when the performance conditions are met. Where a grant does not specify performance conditions it is recognised in income when the proceeds are received or receivable. A grant received before the recognition criteria are satisfied is recognised as a liability.

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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2023

1. Accounting policies (continued)

1.5 Expenditure

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement, and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.

Expenditure on charitable activities includes direct costs relating to the objectives of the charity as well as support costs in the form of administration expenses. Support costs include governance costs comprising expenditure involving the public accountability of the charity and its compliance with regulation and good practice. These costs include independent examination and legal fees and also those meeting its statutory obligations.

1.6 Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.

Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:

Computers 25% straight line

The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in the statement of financial activities.

1.7 Fixed asset investments

Fixed asset investments are initially measured at transaction price excluding transaction costs, and are subsequently measured at fair value at each reporting date. Changes in fair value are recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year. Transaction costs are expensed as incurred.

1.8 Impairment of fixed assets

At each reporting end date, the charity reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any).

1.9 Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2023

1. Accounting policies (continued)

1.10 Financial instruments

The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.

Financial instruments are recognised in the charity’s balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.

Basic financial assets

Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.

Basic financial liabilities

Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.

Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.

Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Derecognition of financial liabilities

Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.

Employee benefits

1.11

The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.

Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.

1.12 Retirement benefits

Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.

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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2023

2. Critical accounting estimates and judgements

In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the Trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.

3. Donations and legacies

Unrestricted Restricted Total Unrestricted Restricted Total
funds funds funds funds
2023 2023 2023 2022 2022 2022
£ £ £ £ £ £
Grants receivable 884,575 696,843 1,581,418 786,334 533,333 1,319,667

As outlined by SORP FRS102, donated services are to be included in the accounts at the amount that the charity would have spent on similar services, should they not have been received as donations. Included in the above figures are £35,742 (2022: £nil) of donated legal services from Allen & Overy.

4. Investments

Investments
Interest receivable
Other income
Total
Unrestricted
funds
2023
2022
£
£
Other income
-
35,438		 2023
2022
£
£
11,616
80
Restricted
Total
funds
2022
2022
£
£
46,121
81,559

5. Other income

Other income represents the balance of funds transferred over from The Childhood Trust during the previous period by way of a transfer agreement.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2023

6. Raising funds

Fundraising
Fundraising database
Fundraising consultants
Charitable activities
Staff costs
Depreciation and impairment
Legal and professional
Evaluation costs
Staff recruitment
Staff training
Travel
Postage and stationery
General expenses
IT costs
Communications costs
Insurance
Premises expenses
Bank charges
Event costs
Community champion workstream
Programmatic activities
Finance & Administration Consultancy
Discovery & Co-design
Grant funding of activities (Cost-of-living)
Share of governance costs (see note 8)
Analysis by fund
Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds		 Unrestricted
Restricted
funds
funds
2023
2022
£
£
7,280
7,280
29,810
45,120
37,090
52,400
Charitable
Charitable
expenditure
expenditure
2023
2022
£
£
479,013
174,711
1,467
405
63,828
25,248
14,086
-
828
31,108
8,847
1,447
15,440
7,555
1,743
62
5,560
699
6,779
3,459
10,184
-
1,514
1,204
19,998
3,857
69
111
1,478
-
10,205
-
87,327
24,151
24,669
18,130
12,300
24,436
11,600
-
9,600
7,200
787,077
323,783
340,758
153,804
446,319
169,979
787,077
323,783

7. Charitable activities

Legal and professionals include legal fees of which £35,742 is the pro bono support, HR consultancy, data protection fees, and fees for Xero the accounting platform.

38 • thrive at five • Annual report and financial statements 2022–23

Annual report and financial statements 2022–23 • thrive at five • 39

DocuSign Envelope ID: AC127206-9B99-4D43-BBE9-F06A0A5827F6

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2023

8. Support costs

Governance costs includes payments to the auditors of £9,600 (2022: £7,200) for audit fees.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2023

11. Taxation

The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or section 252 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects.

9. Trustees

None of the Trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration or benefits from the charity during the year. Expenses totalling £175 (2022: £749) were refunded to a Trustee in the period under review.

10. Employees

The average monthly number of employees during the year was:

National & Stoke team
Employment costs
Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Other pension costs		 2023
2022
Number
Number
7
2
2023
2022
£
£
362,834
148,826
37,778
9,958
9,999
5,551
410,611
164,335

Included within staff costs per the charitable activities note is secondment costs of £68,103 (2022: £10,376).

The number of employees whose annual remuneration was more than £60,000 is as follows:

2023 2022
Number Number
£60,000 - £70,000 1 1
£70,000 - £80,000 1 -
£80,000 - £90,000 1 -

12. Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fxed assets
Computers
£
Cost
At 1 July 2022 4,019
Additions 1,772
Disposals (682)
At 30 June 2023 5,109
Depreciation and impairment
At 1 July 2022 405
Depreciation charged in the year 1,467
Eliminated in respect of disposals (682)
At 30 June 2023 1,190
Carrying amount
At 30 June 2023 3,919
At 30 June 2022 3,614
Fixed asset investments
Unlisted
investments
£
Cost or valuation
At 1 July 2022 & 30 June 2023 1
Carrying amount
At 30 June 2023 1

13. Fixed asset investments

The charity owns 100% of the issued share capital of Thrive at Five Trading Limited, a company registered in England & Wales. The subsidiary is dormant and is this not consolidated into these financial statements.

40 • • thrive at five Annual report and financial statements 2022–23

Annual report and financial statements 2022–23 • thrive at five • 41

DocuSign Envelope ID: AC127206-9B99-4D43-BBE9-F06A0A5827F6

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2023

14. Debtors

Debtors
2023 2022
Amounts falling due within one year: £ £
Trade debtors 200,000 200,000
Trade debtors at 30 June 2023 relate to the second year of funding of
£200,000 due from Stoke-on-Trent local authority (2022 relates to frst year of funding).

15. Creditors

Creditors
Amounts falling due within one year:
Other taxation and social security
Trade creditors
Other creditors
Accruals and deferred income		 2023
2022
£
£
12,365
11,521
19,068
7,812
1,065
680
80,611
27,935
113,109
47,948

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2023

17. Restricted funds

Restricted funds
Restricted Restricted Total Restricted Total
Stoke Redcar & Restricted Stoke Restricted
Cleveland
2023 2023 2023 2022 2022
£ £ £ £ £
Income from donations 584,343 112,500 696,843 533,333 533,333
Other income - - - 46,121 46,121
Total income 584,343 112,500 696,843 579,454 579,454
Expenditure on
charitable activities 428,748 17,571 446,319 169,979 169,979
Net movement in funds 155,595 94,929 250,524 409,475 409,475
Fund balances at
1 July 2022 409,475 - 409,475 - -
Fund balances at
30 June 2023 565,070 94,929 659,999 409,475 409,475

16. Retirement benefit schemes

Defined contribution schemes

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund.

Restricted funds of £659,999 (2022: £409,475) comprise of unspent funds to support the operations and activities of Thrive at Five in Abbey Hulton & Townsend and Bentilee & Ubberley, in Stoke-on-Trent to the value of £565,070 and £94,929 (2022: NIL) of unspent funds to support operations in Redcar.

The charge to profit or loss in respect of defined contribution schemes was £9,999 (2022 - £5,551).

42 • • thrive at five Annual report and financial statements 2022–23

Annual report and financial statements 2022–23 • thrive at five • 43

DocuSign Envelope ID: AC127206-9B99-4D43-BBE9-F06A0A5827F6

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2023

18. Analysis of net assets between funds

Analysis of net assets between funds Analysis of net assets between funds
Unrestricted Restricted Total Unrestricted Restricted Total
funds funds funds funds
2023 2023 2023 2022 2022 2022
£ £ £ £ £ £
Fund balances at 30 June 2023
are represented by:
Tangible assets 3,919 - 3,919 3,614 - 3,614
Investments 1 - 1 1 - 1
Current assets/(liabilities) 1,130,071 659,999 1,790,070 612,033 409,475 1,021,508
1,133,991 659,999 1,793,990 615,648 409,475 1,025,123

19. Related party transactions

Donations of £333,333 (2022: £333,333) were received from the Ethos Foundation, a charity related to Mr. G Gordon.

During the previous period, the Charity received a balance of funds totalling £80,560, by virtue of a transfer agreement, from The Childhood Trust, a charity in which Mr G Gordon is a Trustee.

During the previous period 3 Trustees were appointed with support from the global search consultants Saxton Bampfylde Ltd, who were paid £nil (2022: £17,172) for their services. Saxton Bamfylde Ltd is a company for which Ms. L Joy is a non-executive director.

20. Cash generated from operations

Surplus for the year
Adjustments for:
Investment income recognised in statement of fnancial activities
Depreciation and impairment of tangible fxed assets
Movements in working capital: (increase) in debtors
Increase in creditors
Cash generated from operations		 2023
2022
£
£
768,867
1,025,123
(11,616)
(80)
1,467
405
-
(200,000)
65,161
47,948
823,879
873,396

21. Analysis of changes in net funds

The charity had no debt during the year.

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44 • • thrive at five Annual report and financial statements 2022–23

Docusign Envelope ID AC127206-9B99-4D43-BBE9-F06AOA5827F6 thr veatf ve thriveatfive.org.uk Charity number1195059