2023-04-01-accounts

Trustees’ Annual Report for the period

From 02/04/2022 Period start date To 01/04/2023 Period end date

Charity name: Life Seekers Aid

Charity registration number: 1195995

Objectives and Activities

	SORP reference
Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document	Para 1.17	The objects of the CIO are for the public beneft: (a) To advance the educaton and training of those applying for and granted refugee status and their dependants in need thereof so as to advance them in life and assist them to adapt within a new community. (b) To relieve fnancial hardship amongst those applying for and granted refugee status and their dependants living (temporarily or permanently) in the United Kingdom.
Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public benefit, in particular, the activities, projects or services identified in the accounts.	Para 1.17 and 1.19	Life Seekers Aid (LSA) organises and runs multilingual workshops for those applying for, and those recently granted, refugee status in the UK. These sessions – run by trained volunteers, who are all themselves refugees – aim to demystify the asylum process, and help asylum seekers and refugees adjust to life within their new community in the UK. These sessions provide benefciaries with a clear basic understanding of how the British asylum process works, and their rights and responsibilities whilst navigating it. We also run weekly drop-in sessions where we ofer food, clothing, toiletries, advice and warm smiles to asylum seekers and refugees. And, where appropriate, we refer benefciaries to organisations and experts qualifedto provide specialist

		legal and medical assistance.
Statement confirming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit	Para 1.18	Our trustees have given careful consideration to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public beneft, and have kept this in mind when establishing LSA’s objectives and making any decisions on behalf of LSA. Everything LSA does is done for the public beneft. Our work aims directly to improve the lives of a public class (asylum seekers and refugees in Britain) by ofering them advice and support navigating the asylum process, and helping to look after their material needs where possible. Our work also aims indirectly to strengthen community ties in the UK at large by helping asylum seekers and refugees to become settled and productive members of British society.

Additional information (optional)

You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

	SORP reference
Policy on grant making	Para 1.38
Policy on social investment including program related investment	Para 1.38
Contribution made by volunteers	Para 1.38	Life Seekers Aid works with volunteers from refugee and migrant backgrounds, who facilitate the work we do by helping us organise and distribute material aid donations and providing interpretation services. All of these volunteers have had to go through the asylum process themselves and so are well placed to support others in this position. We ofer some training to these volunteers; andwe arekeen to

expand this as funding allows us to. We also work with volunteers from the local community who help us ensure that beneficiaries are registered with local GPs and schoolage beneficiaries are registered at local schools. This is an important part of the process by which we help asylum seekers and refugees settle within their new local communities. We are incredibly grateful to our volunteers for all the time they have spent supporting our work. Without their contribution, LSA could not continue to operate. Other

Achievements and Performance

	SORP reference
Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the difference the charity’s work has made to the circumstances of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a whole.	Para 1.20	Over the past year, our volunteers have continued to meet around 50 newly arrived asylum seekers every week, and assessed their needs. The large majority of these asylum seekers have little in the way of clothing, toiletries and basic essentials. Life Seekers volunteers fnd out what each person needs, and then try to match them up with supplies donated to the East London Mosque. While assessing their needs, we also speak to them about the asylum process as a whole, and invite them to attend the workshops and activity sessions that we ofer. Currently, there is very little support or guidance ofered by the government to asylum seekers, and navigating the asylum process can be incredibly complicated, scary and immiserating. Because our refugee volunteers speak a wide variety of languages between them, and have all been through the asylum process themselves, they are incredibly well placed to ofer this support ina sympathetic and open

manner. If those we speak to have any specific legal or medical issues or concerns, we refer them to specialists.

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

Achievements against objectives set	Para 1.41
Performance of fundraising activities against objectives set	Para 1.41
Investment performance against objectives	Para 1.41
Other

Financial Review

Financial Review
Review of the charity’s financial position at the end of the period	Para 1.21	Life Seekers Aid received £4,400 over the course of the financial year. £2,500 came from a grant generously provided to us by Migrant Helpline in order to help fund our community hub project. This money is a restricted fund which is being used to purchase material essentials – like clothing, sanitary products, and rucksacks – which we are distributing to newly arrived asylum seekers and refugees at our weekly drop-in sessions in Whitechapel. £150 came from unrestricted private donations to the charity. £1,750 was paid to LSA by Jesuit Refugee Service for work that we provided, running a series of workshops for them. Over the course of this period LSA has spent £4,719 on carrying out our charitable activities – this number is slightly higher than our income this year because we had a surplus at the end of last year, when we were still in the middle of running a project funded by Lush. This project has now been completed, and the money has been spent. Now, at the end of this reporting year, we have a surplus of £2294, the majority of which we will aim to spend over the course of the next year as we complete our ongoing projects.
Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves stating why they are held	Para 1.22	At the end of this fnancial period, Life Seekers Aid still has little unrestricted funding. We are conscious that this presents an issue for the charity’s ability to pay for small expenses and operating costs, and will actively seek to secure more unrestricted funding over the next year
Amount of reserves held	Para 1.22	£150.00
Reasons for holding zero reserves	Para 1.22
Details of fund materially in deficit	Para 1.24
Explanation of any uncertainties about the charity continuing as a going concern	Para 1.23

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:	Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:	Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
The charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising)	Para 1.47	Life Seekers Aid’s principal source of funding is from a charitable grant we received from Migrant Help.
Investment policy and objectives including any social investment policy adopted	Para 1.46	At present, Life Seekers Aid does not invest funds that our allocated to us. We may review this as the charity grows.
A description of the principal risks facing the charity	Para 1.46
Other

Structure, Governance and Management

Description of charity’s trusts:		N/A
Type of governing document (trust deed, royal charter)	Para 1.25	Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) foundation constitution
How is the charity constituted? (e.g unincorporated association, CIO)	Para 1.25	CIO
Trustee selection methods including details of any constitutional provisions e.g. election to post or name of any person or body entitled to appoint one or more trustees	Para 1.25	LSA seeks to appoint trustees with appropriate knowledge and experience that will help with the efective administration of the charity. Our governing document states the following. (1) Apart from the frst charity trustees, every trustee must be appointed for a term of three years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees. (2) In selecting individuals for appointment as charity trustees, the charity trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the efective administration of the CIO.

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

Policies and procedures adopted for the induction Para 1.51 and training of trustees The charity’s organisational structure and any wider Para 1.51 network with which the charity works Relationship with any related Para 1.51 parties Other

Reference and Administrative details

Charity name	Life Seekers Aid
Other name the charity uses	LSA
Registered charitynumber	1195995
Charity’s principal address	Life Seekers Aid, 40 Loudoun Square, Cardif CF10 5UZ, Wales

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (ifany)
	VickyMoller	Chair
	Alexander Thomas Bagenal	Treasurer
	Dr Francis William Arnold

– Corporate trustees names of the directors at the date the report was approved

Director name

Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity

Trustee name Dates acted if not for whole year

Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others

Description of the assets held in this capacity

Name and objects of the charity on whose behalf the assets are held and how this falls within the custodian charity’s objects

Details of arrangements for safe custody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets

Additional information (optional)

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of Name Address adviser

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Kenan Albeirakdar

Exemptions from disclosure

Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details

Other optional information

Declarations

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Bagenal Full name(s) Alexander Thomas Position (eg Secretary, Treasurer Chair, etc) Date 11.08.24

Charity Name			No (if any)
Receipts andpayments accounts				CC16a
For the period from	Period start date	To	Period end date

Section A Receipts and payments
A1 Receipts Private donations 150 Migrant Helplinegrant - Jesuit Refugee Service 1,750 Lush CharityPot donation - - - - - 1,900 - - Sub total - Total receipts 1,900 A3 Payments Costs of charitable activities 2,219 Costs of charitable activities - Assylum seeker workshopexpenses - - - - - - - Sub total 2,219 - - Sub total - Total payments 2,219 Net of receipts/(payments) - 319 A5 Transfers between funds - A6 Cash funds last year end 2,613 Cash funds this year end 2,294 Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ Sub total(Gross income for AR) A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)	to the nearest £ Restricted funds	to the nearest £ Endowment funds	Total funds to the nearest £	Last year to the nearest £
	- 2,500 - - - - - - 2,500	- - - - - - - - -	150 2,500 1,750 - - - - - 4,400	15
				-
				-
				3,000
				-
				-
				-
				-
				3,015
	- - -	- - -	- - -
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	2,500	-	4,400	3,015
	- 2,500 - - - - - - - 2,500	- - - - - - - - - -	2,219 2,500 - - - - - - - 4,719	-
				402
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				-
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				402
	- - -	- - -	- - -
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	2,500	-	4,719	402
	- - - -	- - - -	- 319 - 2,613 2,294	2,613
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				2,613

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B5 Liabilities B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees	Details Current account Details Details Details Details Signature Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))	to nearest £ to nearest £ 2,294 - - - - - 2,294 - OK OK to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Print Name Alexander Thomas Bagenal Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional)	to nearest £ Endowment funds
			-
			-
			-
			-
			OK
			to nearest £ Endowment funds
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			Current value (optional)
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			Current value (optional)
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			When due (optional)
			Date of approval
		Alexander Thomas Bagenal	12.08.24