Napier Friends Annual Report for the year ending 31 March 2023
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Napier Friends
Report of the Trustees for the year 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023
The trustees present their annual report and audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2009 and confirm they comply with the Charities Act 1993, as amended by the Charities Act 2006, the trust deed and the Charities SORP 2005.
Reference and Administrative Information
Charity Name - Napier Friends Charitable Incorporated Organisation Registration Number - 1197988
Registered Office: The Workshop, 32-40 High St, Folkestone, Kent CT20 1UJ
Board of Trustees (and dates acted if not for whole period)
Mohamed Izzeldin Milad Shajarati Zadeh Charlotte East Leonard Coghill (from 23 August 2022) Rebekah Lamplough (from 23 August 2022) Bernadette Jones (from 25 March 2022) Aila Dancer (to 23 August 2022) Joanna Flaifil (to 16 May 2022) Simone Clare Gedhill (29 September 2022 to 25 January 2023) Katherine Schimmel (29 September 2022 to 25 January 2023)
Independent Examiners
Catalyst Collective Ltd 84 Lennox Road Portsmouth Cornholne Todmorden OL14 8QD
Bankers
Natwest Bank
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Independent Examiners Report on the Accounts For the year ended 31/03/23
Report to the trustees/ members of Napier Friends on the accounts set out on pages 4 - 15
Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner
The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts.
The charity's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed.
It is my responsibility to:
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examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act,
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follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5Xb) of the Charities Act,
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and state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
Basis of independent examiners statement
My examination was carried out in accordance with general directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. lt also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair' view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
Independent examiner's statement
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
1.) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:
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to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; and
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to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act have not been met; or
2.) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Andrew Woodcock Catalyst Collective 84 Lennox Road, Portsmouth Cornholme, Todmorden OL14 8QD
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Charity overview
Napier Friends is a local community group set up to support people seeking asylum who are accommodated at Napier Barracks and other institutional asylum accommodation in Folkestone, Kent. We are a busy and complex organisation relative to our size, supporting 175-200 people seeking asylum each week at English sessions, volunteering and social activities in the local community, cooking classes, and a range of other activities including chess club and gardening. We have a virtual befriending scheme that is paused for new matches at the moment, as we don't have capacity to support more volunteers at the moment.
We currently have 2 paid workers, both working 9 hours per week, over 40 local volunteers who volunteer in-person every week, plus a further 100 volunteers who continue to support their buddies, who volunteer less regularly, who volunteer with us remotely, or who have stepped back temporarily but who want to remain involved in the charity. Over this year we have also started facilitating Napier Residents to volunteer with us, and plan to expand and strengthen this over the next financial year. We continue to grow, and so we envisage that we will offer more services supported by more paid roles in the near future, particularly to run the cooking project as we have been offered funding for this post once we have achieved some match funding. We have a trustee board made up of local people and people with lived experience of the asylum system, and currently have 6 people on the board.
Charitable purposes
To provide relief to asylum seekers who are in need and have been accommodated at Napier Barracks or other institutional asylum accommodation; through the provision of a support network to provide education, volunteering opportunities and such other support and services as the trustees deem appropriate in order to advance them in life and assist them with their adaption within the community.
Objectives
Napier Friends works towards a society where people seeking asylum are welcomed and supported to build positive lives.
Our mission is to help people seeking asylum to settle into the local community and their new lives in the UK. We build links between people seeking asylum living at institutional asylum accommodation and other local people, and nurture a supportive and empowering community for people to understand and integrate into British society.
We empower the people we support, and value the diversity of experience that every individual brings to our service. We believe that social connectedness helps people tackle
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the other issues they are living with, and seek to give people opportunities to build trust, resilience, confidence, improved health and wellbeing and a sense of belonging.
Our aims are:
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To build connections between people living at Napier and other institutional asylum accommodation and the local community
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To help people seeking asylum to adapt and integrate; through learning English, learning about life in Britain, and other support that will help people to advance themselves as they settle in the UK
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To provide a support network to people living at Napier and who have moved on from Napier
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To offer meaningful activities that improve the health and wellbeing of people living at Napier and other institutional asylum accommodation
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To be anti-oppressive and anti-racist in our practice, providing services fairly to everyone.
Activities and achievements
Napier Friends operates sessions at Napier Barracks 5 days a week, one session a week at a local hotel for people seeking asylum, and facilitates volunteering and social activities in the local community up to 7 days a week. Our services are accessed by approximately 175 people each week. We also support up to 100 opportunities to volunteer and join activities in the local community every week. At Napier we offer English groups, chess club, gardening groups, and access to barber equipment, tailoring equipment and computers as well as providing information, advocacy and signposting. We run a cooking course teaching people basic cooking skills, and facilitating a support and social group for LGBTQ+ people seeking asylum. Our buddy scheme is paused for new matches until we manage to increase our capacity through obtaining funding for this service, and made 167 matches since May 2021.
Over 1100 people have used our services since April last year. We actively seek feedback, and received responses from 105 people. Our feedback is overwhelmingly positive - every responder felt that they benefited from our service, and 94% of people were happy or very happy with what we provide. We are aware that a number of factors (people who respond are self-selected, and the lack of other opportunities for activities means that people are grateful for our service whatever we provide) mean that this is not a true reflection of our service, and also seek feedback by asking people how we could do things differently. We do this formally and through informal conversations and use this information to plan and adapt our services.
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We monitor the impact of our services through surveying a selection of the people using our service and tracking their progress over time. Of the 20 people we have followed, all have improved wellbeing, confidence and hope for the future as a result of using our service. 90% had improved their English skills, and 96% had increased their understanding of life in the UK.
Our volunteers have received training and support to develop their effectiveness and wider skills. Our feedback from volunteers is that most feel well supported, and that they have the training needed to undertake their role. As we are still a largely volunteer-run organisation, we are reliant on and very appreciative of the involvement of our volunteers. We have
Our year in numbers - between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023:
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1050 people supported by our services
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332 English Conversation Groups delivered
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314 other sessions delivered onsite at Napier- including chess clubs, art sessions, information and signposting, gardening, lifeskills, reading groups and events to celebrate special occasions
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383 people supported to volunteer in the local community
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Over 2400 haircuts provided
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250 people supported to open a bank account
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Over 1800 items of clothing altered or repaired
Public benefit statement
The Trustees of Napier Friends have paid due regard to the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit in deciding what activities the charity should undertake. Trustees review the activities Napier Friends engages in regularly to ensure our work continues to be in the public benefit.
Structure, Governance and Management
Napier Friends is governed by a constitution and a board of trustees. The trustees meet on a bi-monthly basis or more frequently when the board deems this necessary. Trustees have the power to co-opt new board members and this is the mechanism through which new trustees join the board.
Thanks to a grant from the Colyer-Fergusson Charitable Trust we have been undertaking work to strengthen our trustee board and to shift power to people with lived experience of migration. As a part of this, we now require all Trustees to undertake training on safeguarding and the roles and responsibilities of being a trustee.
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Financial review
Reserves policy
The trustees have reviewed the reserves of the charity. We are a small and relatively new charity, so currently have a very low level of reserves. We have allocated 50% of our unrestricted funds at the end of this financial period to our reserves (£830), giving us a total of £830 in our reserves fund. We are aiming to grow our reserves to hold enough funds to meet four months’ essential operating costs.
Principal funding sources
The charity’s main source of income is from grants. We also receive a significant proportion of our income from donations- £6428 of unrestricted funds and a further £1245 that was donated for a specific project. Most of this money, over £4300 was raised for our Christmas appeal. Our work this year was funded by 7 grants from 6 organisations. We also received a £500 grant for football activities at the end of the financial year, for activity that commenced in April 23.
Charitable grant-funded activities
National Lottery Awards for All - Award £9950, Duration January 2022 -December 2022. This grant funded our Occupational Justice project, and included funding for our first paid worker, who worked for 5 hours a week setting up and matching people to volunteering opportunities in the local community. These activities were varied and incredibly valued by the people we support. We built partnerships with local charity shops, conservation charities, arts organisations and other volunteer-involving organisations to facilitate volunteering and community engagement activities for up to 100 Napier residents every week. We also funded gym memberships for Napier residents, until a well equipped gym was provided at the camp, and organised other sports and social activities in the community. Part of this funding also enabled us to purchase resources for volunteers to help residents learn English and about life in the UK.
Henry Smith Charity - Award £1000, Duration January 2023- December 2023 This grant continued and expanded some of the work from our National Lottery funding. We changed the focus of our Occupational Justice project to become about Community Engagement, and we were able to increase the worker hours to 9 per week. This has enabled us to increase the range of opportunities available, and start offering support to people seeking asylum at a newly opened local hotel.
Kent Community Foundation, Brook Trust - Award £5000, Duration June 22 - June 23 This grant enabled us to fund a paid worker to coordinate our volunteers and the sessions that we run onsite at Napier Barracks. This worker was employed for 5 hours a week until
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January 2023, and we used funding from some unrestricted donations to increase her hours to 9 per week from February 2023. Having a paid worker has enabled us to strengthen and expand our activities at the camp. We now have resident volunteers who provide barbering and tailoring services for others during our sessions, have computers, English language books and games available to use. We offer English classes 3 days a week, and also have a gardening group, a weekly chess club, art club, games and social activities, information and signposting.
Coyler Fergusson Charitable Trust - Award £4000, Duration Sept 2022 - August 2023 This funding was given to help us strengthen the organisation, specifically around developing our trustee board, increasing the diversity of our volunteers, and enabling us to cover core costs such as our insurance, virtual office hire, and website development and email hosting.
Mazars Charitable Trust - Award £3100, Duration - Autumn 2022
We were delighted to be awarded this one off grant in order to purchase an English textbook, notebook and pen for each person living at Napier to support them to learn English. The men were very pleased to receive these items, and they had a big impact on people’s ability to learn English.
Kent Community Foundation - Award £2456, Duration March 23- August 23 This funding was to cover the costs of our newly formed cooking project. This funding covers the cost of the kitchen hire, food and other expenses for 6 months of the project. After trial sessions at the start of the year, from 1 March we hold weekly sessions to help people learn to shop and cook on a budget in the UK. We will expand this project to deliver regular opportunities for people to cook and share food from their culture as we receive more funding. We hope to grow this project into a community cafe over the next couple of years.
Sported Foundation - Award £500, Duration April 23-June 23
This funding is the first funding we have received to fund a new weekly football session and support for residents to play in a local 6 a side league, starting in April 23.
Investment policy and objectives
The charity has no long-term investments, and a very low amount of unrestricted funds. Our cash reserves are held in a deposit account.
Plans for the future
We want to continue to grow and to become more sustainable as an organisation. We have lots of plans for the future – extending our reach and interaction with the local
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community, opening a community café, becoming OISC registered so we can give immigration advice, relaunching the buddy scheme and extending our in person support. We also plan to network with and offer shared learning with grassroots organisations forming to support people in institutional asylum accommodation opening around the country, and encourage formal institutions to respond in a way that promotes inclusion and community involvement of the people living at the camps.
Our flexibility is one of our organisational strengths, and so we envisage that we will also enact other plans to respond to changing needs and opportunities. For these plans we need to increase our fundraising, move towards having a paid service manager, and to increase our focus on recruiting volunteers with specific skills and experiences.
Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities
The charity trustees are responsible for preparing an annual report and 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 charity trustees to prepare financial statements for each year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity for that period. In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are required to:
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select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
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observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
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make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
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state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures
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disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
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prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 1993, 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 taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Approved by the trustees and signed on its behalf by:
Charlotte East
26 June 2023
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Napier Friends Receipts and Payments Accounts For the year 01/04/2022 to 31/03/2023
| Note | 2023 | 2023 | 2023 | 2023 | 2022 | 2022 | 2022 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income From | Unrestricted funds |
Designated Funds |
Restricted funds |
Total funds |
Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Total funds | ||
| Donations, grants and legacies |
3 | 6428 | - | 28561 | 34989 | 2609 | 12450 | 15059 | |
| Fundraising events | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| Trading activities | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| Total Income | 6428 | - | 28561 | 34989 | 2609 | 12450 | 15059 | ||
| Expenditure on | |||||||||
| Cost of raising funds | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| Charitable activities | 4a | 4765 | - | 19893 | 24658 | 2753 | 4515 | 7268 | |
| Governance costs | 4b | - | - | 190 | 190 | - | - | - | |
| Total expenditure | 4765 | - | 20083 | 24848 | 2753 | 4515 | 7268 | ||
| Net Income/ Expenditure for the year |
1663 | - | 8668 | 10331 | (144) | 7935 | 7791 | ||
| Transfer between funds | -830 | 830 | - | - | 144 | (144) | - | ||
| Net movement in funds for the year |
833 | 830 | 8668 | 10331 | 0 | 7791 | 7791 | ||
| Reconciliation of funds |
|||||||||
| Total funds brought forward |
0 | 0 | 7791 | 7791 | - | - | - | ||
| Total funds carried forward |
833 | 830 | 16269 | 17931 | 0 | 7791 | 7791 |
Movements on all reserves and all recognised gains and losses are shown above. All the organisations operations are classed as continuing
Statement of Financial Position As of 31 March 2023
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| Note | 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed Assets | |||
| Tangible Assets | 2 | - | - |
| Investments | - | - | |
| Current Assets | |||
| Debtors | - | - | |
| Cash at bank and in hand | 17931 | 7791 | |
| Current Liabilities | |||
| Creditors: amounts falling due within 1 year |
- | - | |
| Net current Assets | 17931 | 7791 | |
| Total Assets less Current Liabilities |
|||
| Creditors: Amounts falling due - - in more than one year |
- | - | |
| Net Assets of the charity | 17931 | 7791 | |
| Represented by: | |||
| Restricted income funds | 16269 | 7791 | |
| Unrestricted income funds | 833 | 0 | |
| Designated Reserves | 830 | 0 | |
| Total Charity funds | 17931 | 7791 |
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Notes to the Accounts
For The Year Ended 31 March 2023
1. Accounting Policies
a) The accounts have been prepared using the Historical Cost Convention and in accordance with Financial Reporting Standard FRS102, as well as in accordance with the Charities SORP. b) The charity has taken advantage of the exemption in Financial Reporting Standard FRS102 (Section 1a) from producing a Cash Flow Statement.
c) The society is not required to have its accounts audited as the society is subject to the statutory exemptions and regulations currently in place. On this basis the charity has chosen not to have a formal audit.
d) Debtors and Creditors with no stated interest and receivable or payable within one year are recorded at transaction price. Any losses arising from impairment are recognised in the statement of financial activities in other administrative expenses.
e) Napier Friends existed as an unincorporated charity from 1/4/21 to 17/02/22 and was incorporated on the 18th February 2022. The balance sheet at the date of incorporation was £9237.
2. Fixed Assets
Napier Friends owns no fixed assets
3. Income from Charitable Activities
| 2023 | 2023 | 2023 | 2022 | 2022 | 2022 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Total funds | Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Total funds | ||
| Grant funding | - | 25056 | 25056 | - | 12450 | 12450 | |
| Donations | 6428 | 3500 | 9928 | 2609 | - | 2609 | |
| Legacies | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Total | 6428 | 28561 | 34989 | 2609 | 12450 | 15059 |
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4a Charitable Activities
| 2023 | 2023 | 2023 | 2022 | 2022 | 2022 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Total funds | Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Total funds | ||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| Salaries and Contractors |
- | 8256 | 8256 | - | 798 | 798 | |
| Volunteer costs | - | 380 | 380 | - | - | - | |
| Core costs - Virtual Office, Insurance, web hosting |
- | 866 | 866 | 736 | 96 | 832 | |
| Community Engagement/ OJ expenses |
- | 3860 | 3860 | 1266 | 1266 | ||
| Projeckt Europa expenses |
- | 2260 | 2260 | - | - | - | |
| Conversation Groups Expenses |
832 | 782 | 1614 | 567 | 652 | 1219 | |
| Cooking Project | - | 389 | 389 | - | - | - | |
| Social activities | - | - | - | - | 903 | 903 | |
| Christmas Appeal | 3930 | 3930 | 1450 | - | 1450 | ||
| Gym memberships | 0 | - | 0 | - | 800 | 800 | |
| Textbooks | 3 | 3100 | 3103 | - | - | - | |
| Total | 4765 | 19893 | 24658 | 2753 | 4515 | 7268 |
4b Governance Costs
| 2023 | 2023 | 2023 | 2022 | 2022 | 2022 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Total funds | Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Total funds | ||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| Trustee Training | - | 40 | - | - | - | - | |
| Trustee expenses | - | 150 | - | - | - | - | |
| Total | - | 190 | - | - | - | - |
5 Restricted Funds
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| Balance 1 April 2022 |
Income | Expenditure | Transfers | Balance 31 March 23 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| National Lottery Awards for All |
7791 | - | 7791 | - | - |
| Kent Community Foundation |
- | 5000 | 4093 | - | 907 |
| Mazars Charitable Trust |
- | 3100 | 3100 | - | - |
| CFCT | - | 4000 | 933 | - | 3067 |
| Henry Smith Charity |
- | 10000 | 1512 | - | 8488 |
| Kent Community Foundation |
- | 2456 | 389 | - | 2067 |
| Sported Foundation |
- | 500 | - | - | 500 |
| Alison’s donation |
- | 1240 | - | - | 1240 |
| Total | 16269 |
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6 Analysis of Staff Costs
The 2 paid workers worked as contractors during this financial year, so the payments to them are the gross costs.
Staff costs during the year were made up as follows:
| 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | |
| Gross Wages and contractor costs | 8256 | 798 |
| Employer's NI Costs | 0 | 0 |
| Pension Contributions | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 8256 | 0 |
No employee has employee benefits in excess of £60,000 (2022: 0) The average number of staff employed during this period was 0 (2022: 0) The average number of contractors was 2 (2022:0)
The average number of worker hours was 5 per week (2022:0)
7 Creditors There were no creditors at the end of the accounting period
8 Transactions with related parties
There were no transactions with related parties.
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