2024-09-30-accounts

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FutureDotNow

Annual Trustee Report and Financial Statements

Financial year ending 30 September 2024.

Trustee Report 2024

Reference and administrative details .............................................. 3 Introduction ........................................................................................ 4 Why this matters ................................................................................................................. 4 Our strategy ....................................................................................... 6 Launching the ‘2024 Delivery Plan’ ................................................................................... 7 The delivery plan goals ....................................................................................................... 7 Performance and Achievements ................................................... 10 Workforce Digital Skills Summit ....................................................................................... 14 Financial review ............................................................................... 15 Plans for future periods ................................................................... 17 Structure, governance, and management .................................... 18

Trustee Report 2024

The trustees present their report and the financial statements of FutureDotNow for the period ended 30 September 2024.

Reference and administrative details

Registered charity name:	FutureDotNow
Charity registration number:	1197358
Registered office:	Minerva House
	Edmund Halley Road
	Oxford Business Park
	Oxford
	OX4 4DQ
Trustees:	Sir Peter Estlin
	Camilla Drejer
	Jemma Waters
	Aidan Hancock	(Resigned 25/02/2025)
	Chintan Patel	(Appointed 01/07/2024)
Independent Examiners of	Goldwins Limited
Accounts:	75 Maygrove Road
	London
	NW6 2EG
Bank:	HSBC Business Bank

Trustee Report 2024

Introduction

FutureDotNow was established in October 2019 and operated as a collective, incubated by Nominet, up until 5th January 2022, when we gained charitable status.

The charity’s purpose, as set out in its Constitution, is to advance education for the public benefit in the field of digital skills .

We believe in a UK with a digitally confident and capable workforce in which everyone is able to do all 20 digital tasks essential for work and prepare for our digital future. Our goal is to inspire and enable businesses to provide working-age adults (starting with their own workforce) with the opportunities they need to get to the digital starting line, benefiting their own prosperity and UK productivity.

FutureDotNow has become a leading authority on the digital skills of the UK’s workforce. Our expert understanding of the Essential Digital Skills gap in the UK and relationships with organisations across many sectors allows us to narrate the challenge we face, provide authoritative insight, and put forward practical solutions to close the gap. Our strong links with business leaders, policymakers, and experts from a wide range of organisations place us at the centre of a powerful network. We use this position to coordinate collective action, share learnings and resources, and connect organisations who can support each other. Our mission is to influence business action, public policy and individual behaviour, all with the aim of accelerating long-term progress.

This is detailed in our ‘Theory of Change’ which identifies the conditions, activities, and interventions to bring about the desired outcomes at the national, business, and individual levels. At a national level the UK economy benefits from improved digital capability and greater opportunity to progress and prosper, businesses gain a future-proofed workforce enhancing productivity and filling talent gaps. At a business level, closing the digital skills gap leads to greater resilience, productivity, and sustainability. Digital confidence and capability become priorities, encouraging systematic upskilling investments. At the individual level, people recognise the value of enhancing their digital skills for work and can access the resources they need to do so. Building digital capability and confidence leads to benefits in their daily lives and careers.

Why this matters

Our society and economy cannot digitally transform without a digitally confident and capable workforce. Digital technology doesn’t deliver change or guarantee productivity. That comes from good design and great adoption; people using technology effectively. The rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) adds urgency. A digitally capable workforce will secure economic opportunities for all and ensure the UK keeps pace with the rest of the world. It will also fortify against cyber threats, reducing risks for individuals and companies alike.

Trustee Report 2024

Today, over half of working adults (52%)[1] cannot perform all 20 digital tasks industry and government agree are vital for today’s workplace. That’s c.21.7 million adults unable to do things like check a payslip online, set secure passwords, or use digital tools to improve productivity. This often-overlooked digital skills gap impacts workers at every level, in every sector, and, probably, in every organisation. It’s holding back individuals, and employers at a time when both are facing rapid and significant technological change including from AI and automation.

Most people in the workforce have not been taught these skills in their education, hence the need to explicitly help them build strong digital foundations. This reality has largely been hidden in plain sight, potentially masked by assumptions that adults naturally gain core digital competence through use. Worryingly, against that backdrop, only 4 in 10[2] adults plan to build their digital skills this year.

1 Lloyd’s UK Consumer Digital Index 2024

2 Lloyd’s UK Consumer Digital Index 2024

Trustee Report 2024

Our strategy

We review our aims, objectives, and activities each year and have regular strategy meetings to ensure we deliver impact. This report sets out what FutureDotNow achieved in the 2023-24 financial year and the benefits this activity has driven for the public benefit. We have referred to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing objectives and activities and in planning our future activities.

Our Theory of Change sets out the three key mechanisms of how we deliver change that are embedded in our strategy and the work we do.

Narrating: building a common agenda on workforce essential digital skills, alongside provision of authoritative insight. Expert understanding and cross-sector relationships enable us to narrate the challenge and how to solve it in new and compelling ways.
Campaigning: Continuous communication is core to our work. FutureDotNow’s campaigning mindset and strategy is designed to influence business action, public policy and ultimately individual behaviour.
Convening: A powerful coalition of business leaders, policy makers and experts enables us to surface practical solutions and coordinate collective action to drive systemic change through mutually reinforcing activities. We also ensure focus on impact metrics and shared measurement systems.

“The UK Workforce Digital Skills Gap: Why Closing It Matters and a Roadmap to Action”, was jointly published with the Digital Skills Council in July 2023 and had been part funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. It was the culmination of what FutureDotNow has seen, learnt and done over the past four years. It distilled the landscape and imperative into ten recommendations and delivered consensus from industry and policy makers on the best next steps to boost the digital capability and confidence of the UK’s workforce and ensure everyone has the Essential Digital Skills needed for work. It has become central to FutureDotNow’s strategy.

Over Autumn 2023, FutureDotNow convened industry-led working groups that explored the recommendations in detail and developed the actions required to achieve them.

Trustee Report 2024

The FutureDotNow community identified priority outcomes for impact. The delivery plan for 2024 was the outcome of that work. Collectively, they streamlined the priorities into seven workstreams under three action areas for scale impact with three additional cross cutting themes, see Diagram 1.

Our strategy in 2024 focused on building and mobilising a community of interest. This collaborative effort was designed to drive collective action and deliver tangible outcomes. The three action areas, Strategy, Employer Action and Culture align with our Theory of Change model’s National, Business and Individual levels.

Launching the ‘2024 Delivery Plan’

FutureDotNow convened a delivery plan workshop and a stakeholder event at the Royal Academy of Engineering, 27 November 2023 which was attended by the new Minister for Tech and Digital Economy and over 100 guests. This event introduced the 2024 delivery plan to the wider audience. In addition, online introductory sessions to the 2024 delivery plan were hosted to encourage digital skills stakeholders to get involved and support its delivery. By the end of 2024, over 100 participants from 80+ organisations supported this delivery plan.

Key features of the approach:

We built seven workstream project teams made up of members and expert advisors from across the FutureDotNow community, each accountable for progress. Each workstream reported into one of the three action areas, with two chaired by senior business leaders:

Emma Kendrew, Accenture and Chintan Patel, Cisco (Strategy)
Deborah O’Neill, Oliver Wyman and Stuart Mills, consultant digital leader (Employer Action)

These were supplemented by three cross-cutting ‘vertical’ workstreams in the year. Subject matter experts in key communities looked at all seven action areas through their respective lenses: priority sectors, SMEs, local/regional activation. The teams worked in three 10-week sprints of activity across the year, with end-of-sprint events to consolidate progress and inform the next phase of work. This approach proved highly effective, enabling teams to work with focus, urgency, and commitment while creating a strong sense of community.

The delivery plan goals

The workstreams focused on campaigning involved raising awareness of the workforce digital skills gap and influencing public policy; Convening and enabling, bringing together a diverse community of stakeholders to collaborate and drive collective action by identifying and developing solutions to address systemic barriers to essential digital skills development.

Trustee Report 2024

Strategy

The Shared Ambition workstream, led by Judith Jackson-Merrick from Accenture and Liz Williams MBE from FutureDotNow, aimed to build a shared statement of ambition suitable for adoption across all sectors that recognises essential digital skills as a critical challenge for UK industry. The team worked to ensure the gap in workforce essential digital skills is recognised as a critical part of the UK’s digital skills challenge, develop a shared, consistent statement of ambition, and scope a new approach to measure collective impact.

The Future-Fit Work Skills Framework workstream, led by James Freed from NHS England, Dr Matt Forshaw from Alan Turing Institute, and Holly Chate from FutureDotNow, aimed to deliver a Future-fit work skills framework for essential digital skills in the workforce, with a review process to ensure it keeps up with advancements in tech. The team worked to validate the Essential Digital Skills Framework with industry, position the framework alongside other appropriate standards and curricula, and ensure the framework is recognised and adopted by industry.

The Economic Impact Assessment workstream, led by Elizabeth Barr from Cisco, Aidan Hancock, an independent consultant and Paul Fleming from FutureDotNow (on secondment from Accenture), aimed to close gaps in the evidence base on the economic impact of the workforce essential digital skills gap. The team worked to develop an authoritative economic model to show the value of the labour force being equipped with essential digital skills.

The Social Impact workstream, led by Anna Farquarson from ISS, David Farrell from NHS England, and Liz Williams MBE from FutureDotNow, aimed to establish building essential digital skills in the workforce as a method of delivering ESG social impact. The team worked to understand current measurement and reporting on social value impact, target public procurement Social Value Act interventions, and explore embedding digital inclusion within Social ESG metrics.

Employer Action

The Help Organisations Assess workstream, led by Suzanne Austen from formerly Department for Transport, Chloe Rickard from Cornwall Council, Conor Rose from Marks and Spencer, and Paul Fleming from FutureDotNow, aimed to help organisations assess and understand essential digital skills levels in their workforce. The team worked to support organisations to interrogate national digital skills data and enable companies to run their own workforce digital capability assessments.

The Help Organisations Train workstream, led by Kirsty Adams from Barclays, Niamh Patton from Nationwide, Paul Fleming and Chris Andersson from FutureDotNow, aimed to help organisations train their workforces in essential digital skills. The team worked to make existing training resources more accessible, create feedback loops to surface what content works, and identify training content gaps.

Trustee Report 2024

Culture

The Motives and Culture workstream, led by Aurelie Marais Machurat from Bouygues UK and Holly Chate from FutureDotNow, aimed to understand the cultural and motivational factors that drive individuals to improve their workplace digital skills. The team worked to gather evidence on individuals’ confidence, motives, and barriers when building digital skills.

The three pathfinder verticals

The Construction and Infrastructure Sector workstream, led by Naomi O’Neill from Amey, aimed to raise awareness of essential digital skills within the construction and infrastructure sector. The team worked to engage with sub-contractor communities and pilot plans for raising awareness.

The SMEs workstream, led by Karen Licurse from Digital Boost, aimed to ensure the Essential Digital Skills Framework is relevant and applicable for micro and small businesses. The team worked to test the Colleague Self-Assessment Guide with SMEs and inform future development.

The South-West Region workstream, led by Julie Hawker MBE from Cosmic, aimed to raise awareness of the workforce digital skills gap across the South-West region. The team worked with representatives from Cornwall, Dorset, Somerset and Devon Councils to pilot workforce assessment tools and engage with local employers.

Trustee Report 2024

Performance and Achievements

Creating an infrastructure for success

To maximise impact, we worked through others. We focused on setting a clear direction and creating an environment that made it easy for members to participate in delivery. Our aim was to empower individuals to take ownership, celebrate and amplify their contribution. Engagement increased significantly in every sprint, and we continuously reviewed what worked best.

We also launched a recognition scheme to formally acknowledge the workstream members' efforts and raise the profile of the programme. Digital badges were issued by the City & Guilds Foundation to certify personal contributions in closing the workforce digital skills gap. These badges could be added to LinkedIn profiles, and recipients enthusiastically shared their achievements on the platform.

All workstreams delivered tangible progress. Some completed their tasks, while others will continue their efforts into 2025. The summary below outlines the performance and achievements throughout the calendar year, even though our financial year concluded in September 2024. The 2024 delivery plan encompassed three sprints within the calendar year, with only sprints one and two completed during the financial year.

Strategy

The Shared Ambition workstream developed the Workforce Digital Skills Charter, which provided a consistent mantra for business action. Launched in September, the Charter has over 130 cross-sector signatories and plans for further expansion in 2025.

The Charter Signatories make three commitments:

Raise awareness of the essential digital skills gap in the workforce and the opportunity to be realised through concerted action.
Work together as part of a national change programme to supercharge action on workforce digital skills.
Empower people of working age to build-solid digital foundations

Supporting assets had been created to help organisations embed these key messages in their communications. Additionally, the workstream team had formulated clear asks for the new Labour government, which influenced FutureDotNow's ‘Asks of Government’ summer letter to the newly appointed Secretaries of State for Education and Science, Technology, and Innovation, co-signed by sixteen senior business leaders. The new government has since published a paper on Digital Inclusion early in 2025 and the needs of the workforce are now considered under the umbrella of digital inclusion, a significant step forward in our campaigning agenda.

The workstream team had also collaborated with the Employer Action workstreams, agreeing on the scope of work for the Impact Measurement Enabler, identifying three key areas: the impact of FutureDotNow on member organisations, the effect of member organisations on digital skills within their workforce, and the collective action's influence on helping working-age

Trustee Report 2024

adults build essential digital skills which set the stage for further advancements in the coming year.

The Future-Fit Work Skills Framework workstream validated the Essential Digital Skills Framework with businesses as an appropriate national skills baseline. This research exercise conducted in the Spring also surfaced the need for more nuanced task level content for different industries to bring the tasks to life. A first round of sector-specific overlays of the Framework have been developed for Construction, SME and Healthcare, and are being tested. The workstream provided a feed into the asks of Government letter and the forward ownership of the framework is now subject to Ministerial discussion.

To strengthen use of a common language, work will continue to document how the framework sits alongside existing standards, curricula and qualifications. As an early example of impact, essential digital skills have been embedded into a Turing Institute/IFATE data study group to provide insight into how essential digital skills for work align with UK job descriptions and standards.

The Economic Impact Assessment workstream confirmed a data gap on the economic impact of workforce essential digital skills following a review of existing research. To close this evidence gap, a proposal was developed over the Summer to develop an authoritative economic model that credibly shows the far-reaching value of the labour force being equipped with essential digital skills. FutureDotNow sent the proposal to various stakeholders with a view of funding this project.

The Social Impact workstream was formally stood up over the Summer as part of Sprint 2. A workshop with business leaders decided to focus on the Social Value Act as a priority, specifically how to help suppliers and procurement professionals understand the social impact of enhancing individuals’ essential digital skills for work.

A Social Value Guide for public sector commissioners has been produced in draft form, with plan for first publication in 2025. This aims to help contract commissioners become more ‘intelligent customers’ when it comes to understanding, setting out and realising impact from social value activity through supplier contracts, with an emphasis on addressing the digital skills gap. A parallel document is planned for suppliers. Early engagement is underway with Crown Commercial Service.

Employer Action

The Help Organisations Assess workstream provided new analysis of the 2023 Consumer Digital Index Essential Digital Skills for Work which was shared with stakeholders in a webinar and an online report. This provided employers with key insights into workforce skill levels.

To help employers measure and understand the skills needs of their organisation, a new Workplace Assessment Guide has been developed detailing proven methods that organisations can use. This sits alongside a new Colleague Self-assessment Guide designed to allow individuals to quantify their skills level.

Trustee Report 2024

These two new tools are designed to enable organisations to gain insight into digital skill levels of their workforce. They have been extensively piloted, involving over 4,000 people across leading organisations with feedback showing the act of inviting people to consider their digital capability levels also acts as a stimulus for them to take action to improve their skills (89% feel compelled to build their skills following assessment).

The Help Organisations Train workstream developed validation criteria for training providers to map their content against the Essential Digital Skills Framework with an initial focus on the Being Safe and Legal Online skills.

The team built and tested a new FutureDotNow members' area for accessing digital upskilling resources, ready for roll out early in 2025. This is a key platform for organisations to access digital upskilling resources, including the new workforce assessment tools.

Asset Development in 2024

During 2024, we developed new assets to help organisations take action to improve workforce digital skills. These resources have been developed with and for FutureDotNow members, to be housed in our website members’ area. The site also includes DIGI, a curated AI tool, to help members find the information and tools they need, no matter what stage their business is at. These were built with generous help from our Strategic Partners at Accenture, Oliver Wyman and Ufi VocTech Trust.

Colleague Self-Assessment Guide: A best-practice guide to help the workforce identify their own skills gaps, to support tailored upskilling programmes (inc. a digital confidence assessment, questionnaire).
Workplace Assessment Guide: A new four-stage model to help employers identify and measure digital skills gaps and requirements.
Upgraded Digital Skills Directory: With training resources validated against the Essential Digital Skills Framework and advanced filtering options.
Turning insight into action: Analysis of the Lloyds Bank 2023 UK Consumer Digital Index data on Essential Digital Skills for Work highlighting the implications for business, to help them take action.
Sector specific data: Putting a spotlight on the critical digital tasks missing in each sector, as identified by Lloyds, to help prioritise upskilling efforts.
Stakeholder personas: Detailed profiles to support internal engagement strategies around digital upskilling, including profiles for HR Director and Digital Transformation Manager.
Guide to creating your own stakeholder personas: Step-by-step guide to help organisations develop tailored stakeholder personas for their business, sector or region.

Culture

The Motives and Culture workstream was mobilised mid-year having agreed a scope of work around building understanding on the culture change required to address the digital skills gap, specifically, what motivates people to upskill. This followed early steer from the Behavioural Insights Team to focus on changing behaviours first to drive long-term culture change.

Trustee Report 2024

The team developed a survey to gather evidence on individuals’ confidence, motives, and barriers when building digital skills which was tested with a small group in December. Work is now underway on a formal project to capture what works when it comes to building digital confidence and motives in an evidence-based report to help employers build their upskilling programmes.

The three pathfinder verticals

During 2024, FutureDotNow launched three additional workstreams to focus on key communities where there may be specific and nuanced needs.

These cross-cutting ‘verticals’ were asked to mobilise their specific community to:

Raise awareness of the essential digital skill gap.
Inspire and encourage action to empower people of working age to build digital foundations.
Work together as part of the national change programme to supercharge action on workforce digital skills.
Advance the seven national workstreams (e.g. embedding workstream outputs into regional activity or identifying local funding streams to advance the work of the delivery plan).

Priority Sectors: Construction and Infrastructure was identified as a priority sector due to its growing digital needs and low workforce digital capability. The sector has large supply chains of small and medium businesses, offering opportunities for prime contractors to support broader upskilling. The Construction and Infrastructure Sector workstream focused on raising awareness among Amey’s sub-contractor community to raise awareness of essential digital skills with new organisations. There has also been positive engagement via Amey with National Highways and Network Rail with plans underway for a co-hosted round table session with key suppliers across industry sub sectors.

Small and medium enterprises: Over half of the private sector workforce is employed by a small or medium sized enterprise. It’s critical this segment of the workforce has the same level of opportunity for digital upskilling. This workstream reviewed the Essential Digital Skills Framework to ensure it is relevant and applicable for micro and small businesses and tested the Colleague Self-Assessment Guide, with SMEs to inform future development of the tool.

Regions. The South-West is our first regional workstream working to super-charge regional activity, galvanising local partners to activate their communities. This workstream has been focused on raising awareness of the workforce digital skill gap across the region. This includes two events in October: a business leader lunch, hosted by the South-West Business Council and a briefing for Local Authorities and Digital Skills Partnerships. The South-West team have also been working with local employers to pilot the newly developed workforce assessment tools.

These workstreams were FutureDotNow’s enablers to identify and develop solutions to address systemic barriers to digital skills development. Our campaigning work firmly anchored the topic of Essential Digital Skills in the UK government’s digital strategy and made it one of the three priority workstreams for the Digital Skills Council and the power of FutureDotNow as a convenor can be seen through the continued engagement with our workstream volunteers, the growth of the Charter Signatories and the success of our inaugural workforce Digital Skills Summit.

Trustee Report 2024

Workforce Digital Skills Summit

FutureDotNow held their inaugural Workforce Digital Skills Summit on April 25, 2024, at the Guildhall in London, with thanks to our Strategic Partner the City of London Corporation. The summit brought together over 150 leaders from business, public sector, and civil society. Conversation focused on the nature and scale of the workforce digital skills gap, the opportunity tackling it offers, how it is impacts different groups, and ideas for practical action. The summit speakers included , Dr. Dave Smith, the National Technology Advisor, and Professor Simeon Yates from the University of Liverpool, along with representatives from leading organisations PwC, Accenture, City and Guilds, Labour: Women in Tech, Digital Boost, Oliver Wyman, M&S, Dorset Council, Travis Perkins and Nationwide.

Leaders emphasised the importance of a digitally proficient workforce and the need for crosssector collaboration to close the skills gap. They discussed how generative AI and automation were transforming workplaces and the essential role of digital skills in this evolution. Overall, the messages were clear: as technology evolves, we all need help to evolve alongside it, learning new digital skills throughout our lives and careers. Ensuring the UK workforce is both digitally capable and confident is essential for economic and personal prosperity. Workforce productivity. Leaders identified increasing workforce productivity among their highest business priorities.

Business leaders shared their experiences of implementing new digital services for colleagues and customers. These implementations underscored the necessity of supporting colleagues to develop core digital skills and confidence. Examples included the Big Bang Culture Shift at M&S, where senior leaders built their digital basics alongside junior colleagues, and the Embedded Learning model at Travis Perkins, which integrated digital essentials into existing training programs, particularly for key cohorts like apprentices and new starters.

Trustee Report 2024

Financial review

This is the third year of formal accounts as FutureDotNow was established 5 January 2022. At the start of the financial year, we became VAT registered.

Income

FutureDotNow had a total income of £826,500 compared to FY22/23 income of £623,000.

We received £280,000 unrestricted income from our Strategic Partners, £11,500 in charitable donations and £90,000 restricted income from two grants, Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (£60,000) and UFI VocTech Trust (£30,000) of which a contributed went to fund core costs. In-kind support in the value of £445,000 was provided by Strategic Partners.

Net assets carried forward from September 2023 was £224,702 in unrestricted funds.

The in-kind support covered a secondee from Accenture for 12 months, a small project team with partner oversight from Oliver Wyman, which supported workstreams, facilitated end of sprint workshops and produced new assets. The City of London Corporation hosted our inaugural Workforce Digital Skills Summit at the Guildhall and contributed towards catering of the event and City & Guilds designed and issued our recognition badge scheme for workstream participants.

Expenditure

Our total expenditure for 2023/24 was £779,544 which included the £445,000 in-kind support. Compared with FY22/23 the total expenditure was £836,986 which included the £299,000 inkind support.

Summary

This year we had an operating profit of £46,956. As a result, on 30 September 2024, the charity had free and unrestricted funds of £264,964.

Restricted funds must be utilised on the projects agreed with the funders. Where projects span more than one financial accounting year, any restricted funds that have not been fully used in year must be carried forward to be expended in future years. At the end of this 23-24 financial year, we are carrying forward £10,487 of restricted funds.

Investment policy

Aside from retaining a prudent amount in reserves each year (invested in our instant access bank account) to cover risks and provide working capital, the charity’s funds are to be spent in the short term, so there are no funds for long-term investment.

Reserves policy

FutureDotNow’s working reserves policy for this financial year was to hold unrestricted reserves to manage any risks, including but not limited to mitigating uncertainties in our funding levels

Trustee Report 2024

and timing of deposits. The reserves policy is reviewed annually by the Trustees at the beginning of the new financial year and in October 2023, in response to the charity’s financial position and the economic climate, the decision was to hold unrestricted reserves to cover the cost to exit at £120,000.

In the financial year 23/24, FutureDotNow diversified its funding model from six legal members to fourteen strategic partners. This included cash, in-kind support, donations and a government grant, creating a more robust and resilient financial structure. Notably, the charity achieved the status of a going concern in December 2023 and this has remained throughout the financial year up until the time of writing this report.

Trustee Report 2024

Plans for future periods

FutureDotNow’s mission remains constant; it remains essential for all working-age adults to be equipped with the digital confidence and capability they need for a prosperous future.

In Q1 of financial year 2024/25 FutureDotNow was contracted by the Government’s National Technology Advisor, who has funded the development of the Economic assessment model and report. Working with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) we plan to deliver this work for Spring 2025.

In addition, FutureDotNow received a grant from the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation to fund a further three projects on how to quantify social value of the workforce having the essential digital skills, Embedding AI into Essential Digital Skills and What Works – Building digital confidence and motives, all were outputs from our 2024 delivery plan .

Looking ahead to 2025, FutureDotNow will continue to build on the progress made in 2024 while identifying new routes to inform and inspire business to help people of working age build essential digital skills for work and reach the 20 million people without all these skills. Our plan for 2025 ‘ Routes to 20 million ’ focuses on four strategic priorities: campaigning, convening, enabling, and pathways. The 2025 plan includes seven enabler workstreams focusing on areas such as the Future-Fit Skills Framework, Economic Impact, Social Value, Training Content, Motives and Confidence, Measuring Impact, and Needs of Small and Medium Enterprises. Pathway projects will target specific sectors, regions, skill areas, and those not in work. These projects will, by activating the wider network, establish multiple potential touchpoints to reach individuals at scale.

One of our key initiatives will be the promotion of the Workforce Digital Skills Charter, which has secured over 130 signatories since launch in Sept 2024, so collectively we can increase the awareness of the digital skills gap, work together across industries and empower individuals. FutureDotNow will continue to provide the infrastructure for collective action, driving progress through 10-week sprints, celebrating success at our end of sprint workshops and bringing the community together at our annual Workforce Digital Skills Summit to raise awareness, profile impact, and energise the wider network.

In addition to these efforts, we will launch our FutureDotNow members area in 2025. This area will provide resources and tools for our members to help them in their upskilling journey and will provide a source of sustainable funding for FutureDotNow. In 2025, we plan to promote and grow our membership.

Trustee Report 2024 Structure, governance, and management FutureDotNow was established a5 a charitable incorporated organisalion ICIOI on 5th January 2022 with ils Constitution as its governing document. In October 2023, a new governance model was approved, and the steering board was dissolved, replaced by a trustee-only board consisting of ihree trustees with all legal members from the steering board retained, bar one. A fourth trustee, Aidan Hancock, was appointed 21st January 2024 whose experience as Chief Information Officer brought a wealth of knowledge to the board. He has since resigned 25" February 2025 dve to conflicling priorities. Our fifth truslee, Chintan Patel, CTO for Cisco UK & Ireland was appointed on 151 July 2024. Chintan bring5 25 years of global experience and connections across industry, government and academia to help accelerate the adoption of digital technology. He is a member of the UK Government's Digital Skills Council and contributes to mitigating ihe risk of maintaining quorum. A scheme of delegation is in place and the day-to-day responsibility for Ihe running of the charity sits with the Executive Office, comprising of the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Operating Off icer. Under the requirements of the Constitution, Ihe trustees at FutureDotNow are elected by the board and typically serve for a period of three years after which they can stand for re-election. To prevent all trustee positions from expiring simultaneously,one trustee, Jemma Waters served a two-year initial term, which was renewed 5th January 2024 for a three-year period. Sir Peter Estlin and Camilla Drejer both renewed their lerm as trustees on 5, January 2025 for another Ihree years. Our board of trustees. which must consist of at least three and up to twelve members, were initially elected from our existing board members. Future or additional irustees could be appointed to f ill any required skills gaps on our board through open advertisement and, where appropriate, by using a recruitment agency with experience in recruiting charity trustees. Newly appointed trustees are provided with a copy of the Constitution and any amendments rnade lo it, and a copy of the latesl trustee report and statement of accounts. We also tailor induction to meel their needs, which could include shadowing of senior staff or briefing sessions by the board. Th sig trustees, annual report was approved on3 July 2025 at the Annual General Meeting and e board by: Sir Peter Estlin Chair Dated- Vs FuiureUoiNow I'l'rusici. RL. art 20241 luly 2025 18 uf 18

Independent Examiners ’ Report To the Trustees of FutureDotNow

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of FutureDotNow for the period ended 30 September 2024.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees 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

Since the charity’s gross income exceeded £250,000, I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of the ICAEW, which is one of the listed bodies.

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust 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 applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Anthony Epton BA FCA CTA FCIE Goldwins Chartered accountants 75 Maygrove Road West Hampstead London NW6 2EG

8 July 2025

FutureDotNow

Statement of financial activities

(Incorporating an income and expenditure account) For the year ended 30 September 2024

Notes Income from: Grants and donations 2	Unrestricted Funds £ 456,500	Restricted Funds £ 90,000	2024 £ 546,500	2023 £ 623,000
Charitable activities 3	280,000	-	280,000	-
Total income Expenditure on: Charitable activites 4 Total expenditure Net (expenditure)/income for the year 5 Net (expenditure)/income for the year Reconciliation of funds: Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward	736,500 700,031 700,031 36,469 36,469 228,495 264,964	90,000 79,513 79,513 10,487 10,487 - 10,487	826,500 779,544 779,544 46,956 46,956 228,495 275,451
				623,000
				836,986
				836,986
				(213,986)
				(213,986) 442,481
				228,495

The attached notes form part of these accounts.

FutureDotNow Balance shoot A• at 30 Soptsmbgr 2024 2024 2024 2023 2023 Flx•d auots Tangible assets 2.749 4.291 Current a88ots Debtors Cash al bank 36.000 255,128 235.099 291,128 235,099 Current Ilablllll Creditors. Amounts falling due within one year (18A261 110,8951 Not curr•nt u••ts 272.702 224.204 Total not •ots 275ASI 228.495 Fund# 11 Reslricled funds 10A87 Unrestricted lunds.. General funds 228,495 Total fund• 275ASI 228,495 Approve(I by the board of trustees on...3.J.uly..202&...... and signed on it5 béhalf by. Sir Pete Kenneth Estlin Chaif The attached notes form part of Ihese a¢counls. 21

FutureDotNow Statement of cash flows For the year ended 30 September 2024

Note 2024 2024 £ £ Cash flows from operating activities Net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities a 20,029 Cash flows from investing activities: Dividends and interest from investments - Purchase of fixed assets - Net cash provided by / (used in) investing activities - Change in cash and cash equivalents in the period 20,029 Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the period 235,099 Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period 255,128 2024 Net (expenditure) /income for the reporting period £ (as per the statement of financial activities) 46,956 Depreciation 1,542 Interest and dividends from investments - (Increase)/Decrease in debtors (36,000) (Decrease)/Increase in creditors 7,531 Net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities 20,029 b) Analysis of cash and cash equivalents At start of the year Cash Flow 2024 £ £ £ Cash at bank and in hand 228,495 46,956 275,451 Total cash and cash equivalents 228,495 46,956 275,451 a) Reconciliation of net income / (expenditure) to net cash flow from operating activities	At start of the period £ 411,942 411,942	2023 £ - - Cash Flow £ (183,447) (183,447)	2023 £ (176,843) -
			(176,843) 411,942
			235,099
			2023 £ (213,986) 1,542 - 84,817 (49,216)
			(176,843)
			2023 £ 228,495
			228,495

FutureDotNow

Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 30 September 2024

1 Accounting policies

Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared 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 - effective 1 January 2015) - (Charities SORP FRS 102) and the Charities Act 2011.

The charity 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 or note.

Going concern

Income

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and that the amount can be measured reliably.

Income from government and other grants, whether ‘capital’ grants or ‘revenue’ grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred. Income received in advance for the provision of specified service is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met.

Donations of gifts, services and facilities

Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item or received the service, any conditions associated with the donation have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), volunteer time is not recognised so refer to the trustees’ annual report for more information about their contribution.

On receipt, donated gifts, professional services and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.

Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 30 September 2024

FutureDotNow

1 Accounting policies (continued)

Interest receivable

Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are available to spend on activities that further any of the purposes of charity. Designated funds are unrestricted funds of the charity which the trustees have decided at their discretion to set aside to use for a specific purpose. Restricted funds are donations which the donor has specified are to be solely used for particular areas of the charity’s work or for specific projects being undertaken by the charity.

Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:

Costs of raising funds comprise of trading costs and the costs incurred by the charity in inducing third parties to make voluntary contributions to it, as well as the cost of any activities with a fundraising purpose.
Expenditure on charitable activities includes activities undertaken to further the purposes of the charity and their associated support costs.
Other expenditure represents those items not falling into any other heading.
Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.

Allocation of support costs

Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Support costs include back office costs, finance, personnel, payroll and governance costs which support the charitable programmes and activities. These costs have been allocated between cost of raising funds and expenditure on charitable activities. The bases on which support costs have been allocated on their total direct costs and are set out in note 3.

Operating leases

Rental charges are charged on a straight line basis over the term of the lease.

Tangible fixed assets

Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £1,000. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The depreciation rates in use are as follows:

Office equipment 20% on cost

Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

FutureDotNow

Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 30 September 2024

1 Accounting policies (continued)

Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value with the exception of bank loans which are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Pensions

The charity operates a stakeholder defined contribution pension scheme. Contributions payable for the year are charged in the Statement of Financial Activities.

FutureDotNow

Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 30 September 2024

ants £ 456,500 - Unrestricted	Restricted £ - 90,000	2024 Total £ 456,500 90,000	2023 Total £ 573,000 50,000
456,500	~~.~~ 90,000	546,500	623,000
ies Unrestricted £ 280,000	Restricted £ -	2024 Total £ 280,000	2023 Total £ -
280,000	-	280,000	-
			2023 Total £ 364,915 20,406 110,802 6,744 299,000 6,891 - 630 5,755 1,282 3,331 8,897 3,000 - 1,542 90 3,701
			836,986
			2023 £ 1,542 2,500

Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 30 September 2024

FutureDotNow

FutureDotNow Notes to the financial statements For theyear ended 30 September 2024
6 Staff costs were as follows: Salaries and wages Social security costs Employer’s contribution to defined contribution pension schemes Analysis of staff costs, trustees remuneration and expenses,	2024 £ 255,497 23,536 9,235 288,268	2023 £ 322,589 30,047 12,279
		364,915

The number of employees whose annual remuneration was £60,000 or more were:
	2024 No.	2023 No.
£70,000- £79,000 £80,000- £89,000	1 1	1 1

The total employee benefits including pension contributions for the key management personnel in £175,370 ).	the year were £186,623 ( 2023:

Staff numbers

The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the period was as follows:

	2024	2023
	No.	No.
Total	4	7

There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the year ended 30 September 2024. There were no trustees' expenses paid for the year ended 30 September 2024.

7 Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets
Cost At the start of the year Additions in year At the end of the year Depreciation At the start of the year Charge for the year At the end of the year Net book value At the end of the year At the start of the year	£ 6,799 Office equipment
	6,799
	2,508 1,542
	4,050
	2,749
	4,291

FutureDotNow

Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 30 September 2024

8 Debtors

Trade Debtors 9 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Trade creditors Accruals Taxation and social security 10 Analysis of net assets between funds Fixed assets Net current assets Net assets 10a Analysis of net assets between funds (prior period) Fixed assets Net current assets Net assets 11 Movement in funds Restricted Funds:	£ At 1 October 2023	Unrestricted £ 2,749 262,215 264,964 Unrestricted £ 4,291 224,204 228,495 Income £	2024 £ 36,000 36,000 2024 £ 666 2,850 14,910 18,426 Restricted £ - 10,487 10,487 Restricted £ - - - Expenditure £	2023 £ -
				-
				2023 £ 418 3,000 7,477
				10,895
				Total £ 2,749 272,702
				275,451
				Total £ 4,291 224,204
				228,495
				At 30 September 2024
UFI VocTech Trust Department of Science, Innovation and Technology	- -	30,000 60,000	(19,513) (60,000)	10,487 -
Total restricted funds Unrestricted funds: General fund Total unrestricted funds Total funds 11a Movement in funds (prior period) Restricted Funds: Accenture Global Service Design Total restricted funds Unrestricted funds: General fund Total unrestricted funds Total funds		90,000 736,500 736,500 826,500 Income £ - - - 623,000 623,000 623,000	(79,513) (700,031) (700,031) (779,544) Expenditure £ (38,000) (17,520) (55,520) (781,466) (781,466) (836,986)
	-			10,487
	228,495			264,964
	228,495			264,964

	228,495			275,451
	£ 38,000 17,520 At 1 October 2022			At 30 September 2023 - -
	55,520			-
	386,961			228,495
	386,961			228,495

	442,481			228,495

12 Movement in funds (continued) Restricted funds are for the following purposes:

A portion of the Accenture global grant was restricted to fund a regional project. Recognising combined and local authorities can play a pivotal role in their region, this regions project working with GMCA has explored the how they can have a positive impact on their own workforce but also that of their regions businesses and communities in closing the EDS. The insight gained will be documented as a blueprint for use by other regions in the UK

The service design grant was restricted to fund two projects, the building a community project designed to increase member collaboration by establishing a strong member community resulting in greater collaboration, engagement, accountability, and action across the membership and to refresh and update the FutureDotNow website. Both projects have delivered phase 1 and move into the new financial year with phase two.

13 Related party transactions

There are no related party transactions to disclose in the year ( 2023: Nil).

FutureDotNow

Annual Trustee Report and Financial Statements

Contents

Trustee Report 2024

Reference and administrative details

Introduction

Why this matters

Trustee Report 2024

Our strategy

Launching the ‘2024 Delivery Plan’

Key features of the approach:

The delivery plan goals

Trustee Report 2024

Strategy

Employer Action

Culture

The three pathfinder verticals

Performance and Achievements

Creating an infrastructure for success

Strategy

Trustee Report 2024

Employer Action

Trustee Report 2024

Asset Development in 2024

Culture

Trustee Report 2024

The three pathfinder verticals

Workforce Digital Skills Summit

Financial review

Income

Expenditure

Summary

Investment policy

Reserves policy

Trustee Report 2024

Plans for future periods

Responsibilities and basis of report

Independent examiner’s statement

FutureDotNow

Statement of financial activities

FutureDotNow Statement of cash flows For the year ended 30 September 2024

FutureDotNow

1 Accounting policies

Basis of preparation

Going concern

Income

Donations of gifts, services and facilities

FutureDotNow

1 Accounting policies (continued)

Interest receivable

Fund accounting

Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

Allocation of support costs

Operating leases

Tangible fixed assets

Debtors

1 Accounting policies (continued)

Cash at bank and in hand

Creditors and provisions

Financial instruments

Pensions

FutureDotNow

Staff numbers

8 Debtors