2024-12-31-accounts - Safe Spaces England And Wales

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Charity Registration No. 1198393

Company Registration No. 12888233 (England and Wales)

SAFE SPACES ENGLAND AND WALES REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

(A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE)

Safe Spaces England and Wales

Reference and administrative information

Trustees	The Rt. Rev’d Paul James Mason	The Rt. Rev’d Paul James Mason
	Dr James Herbert Harrison
	Paul McCallum
	The Rt. Rev’d Julie Anne Conalty
	Craig	Russo(appointed 1 May 2024)
	Paul Langham(appointed 1 May 2024, resigned April 2025)
Charity Number	1198393
Company Number	12888233
Principal Address & Registered Office	Church House
	Great	Smith Street
	London
	SW1P	3AZ
Independent Examiners	Jane Askew
	HaysMac LLP
	10 Queen Street Place
	London
	EC4R	1AG
Bankers	Lloyds Bank plc
	1 Legg Street
	Essex
	CM1 1JS
Solicitors	Charles Russell Speechlys LLP
	5 Fleet Place
	London
	EC4M 7RD

Safe Spaces England and Wales

Trustees’ Report (incorporating a Strategic Report)

The trustees present their trustees’ report (which is a directors’ report for company law purposes) together with the Independent Examiner’s report, for the year ended 31 December 2024.

The Charity

Safe Spaces England and Wales (SSEW) is a company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 18 September 2020 and registered with the Charity Commission on 18 March 2022. The Charity’s governing document is its Memorandum and Articles of Association.

The Charity is a Joint Venture between the Church of England (represented by the Archbishops’ Council (AC)) and the Catholic Church in England and Wales (represented by the Catholic Trust for England and Wales (CaTEW)) each of which is a member and guarantor.

Governance, structure and management

The two members (the AC and CaTEW) each have the right to appoint up to two trustees. In addition, two independent trustees may be appointed. The trustees (who are also the company directors) who help office during the year were:

AC: Dr James Herbert Harrison
AC: The Rt. Rev’d Julie Anne Conalty
CaTEW: The Rt. Rev’d Paul James Mason
CaTEW: Paul McCallum
Independent: Craig Russo
Independent: Paul Langham

The trustees meet together regularly. For a meeting to be quorate, one AC and one CaTEW trustee must be present and for any resolution to be passed at least one AC trustee and one CaTEW trustee must be in favour.

In the event of the Charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to a sum not exceeding £1 per member of the Charity.

Recruitment and appointment of trustees

The majority of trustees hold positions in the Church of England and the Catholic Church in England and Wales. Their appointment and training is dependent on the processes in their respective Churches. Two trustees are independent of both the Church of England and the Catholic Church in England and Wales. Each member has the power to appoint two trustees to the Board.

PUBLIC BENEFIT

In exercising their responsibilities, the trustees have had regard to the Charity Commission’s published advice on public benefit, in accordance with the requirements of s17(5) of the Charities Act 2011. Safe Spaces’ activities provide public benefit through provision of support to victims of church related abuse.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Activities

In recent years, both the Church of England and the Catholic Church in England and Wales identified that a consistent, unified and personalised pastoral response was needed to help address the needs of victims and survivors of church related abuse and in 2018 the Churches became ecumenical partners. Following consultation with victims and survivors, the Churches sought to develop and provide a service which was jointly funded, but which was delivered independently.

From this perspective, Safe Spaces, a free, independent and confidential support service was developed to provide a new and refreshed approach to meeting the care and support needs of survivors. Uniquely, victims and survivors were involved in designing the service and in the procurement process to select the organisation which should manage it. In 2019/2020, Victim Support were awarded the contract to deliver the service as a two-year pilot due to their experience in supporting victims of abuse.

Safe Spaces England and Wales

Trustees’ Report (incorporating a Strategic Report)

On 18[th] September 2020 Safe Spaces England and Wales (SSEW) was established by the two Churches as a charitable company under the Companies Act 2006 in order to ensure agile and arms-length oversight in connection with the Safe Spaces project. SSEW holds and oversees the contract with the supplier of the Safe Spaces service. The SSEW Directors provide strategic direction by ensuring service assessment is performed regularly and objectively to enable informed decision making.

The contract for Victim Support came to an end in September 2022 after the two-year pilot. Drawing on lessons learned from the pilot and recommendations from an independent evaluation, SSEW undertook a procurement exercise to identify a suitable supplier to continue the service. To ensure support was maintained for victims and survivors and to enable a smooth transition, an interim provider was sought for the period September 2022 to January 2023. This was awarded to FearLess (now known as FearFree). First Light were awarded the contract to deliver the service for a three year period (January 2023 – January 2026) and have been delivering the Safe Spaces service on behalf of SSEW since January 2023.

As per the charity’s Objectives, the purpose of the Charity is to strive to promote and protect the physical and mental health of adults who are suffering as a result of any type of abuse perpetrated in a Christian church-related context, in England and Wales, through the provision of advocacy support for their emotional and physical health and wellbeing.

For additional public benefit, the Charity also seeks the advancement of education by promoting and carrying out research into Christian church-related abuse, its effect on the consequences for victims and survivors, and to publish the useful results of such research.

The advancement of Christian religion in England and Wales is also a component in the Charity’s aims.

The Safe Spaces service includes a helpline and live chat service to provide services to adult victims and survivors of church-related abuse. The service provides advocacy and practical and emotional support from ISVA trained advocates. Depending on the needs of individuals, the service can give clear information as to what to expect from the criminal justice system, social care and church processes for managing allegations of abuse. It also offers mediation, liaison and signposting or onwards referrals to available support from other service providers, including voluntary, faith-based, secular and community services. It can also include making referrals to the police and local authorities or organising support from local community-based organisations.

Safe Spaces ensures that all victims and survivors are treated with respect, dignity, compassion and openness and that their voices are central to understanding what makes a difference to the lives of all survivors of abuse. The service can be one off, ad-hoc or ongoing with support being planned in a bespoke manner to the needs of the victim or survivor and is always with a trauma-informed approach.

Safe Spaces also provides a website with information, online resources and advice for victims and survivors, families and professionals. In 2024, the Safe Spaces website had 66,569 site visits to its homepage, a increase of 231% in comparison to 20,093 visits in the previous year.

In May 2024, in response to survivor voice feedback, an independent chair was appointed to the SSEW board who provides strategic direction and critical challenge to the board of trustees. An additional Independent lived experience trustee was also appointed to the board in May 2024, bringing the total number of trustees on the SSEW board to 6 in accordance with the charity articles.

Later in 2024, as a result of the Makin Review, Safe Spaces saw a significant increase in cases. As a result, further resources were made available from the Archbishops Council (AC) to enable First Light to recruit another ISVA who came into post in September 2024. Caseloads and capacity are being closely monitored, however, throughout the period KPI’s for the service continued to be met or exceeded.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Public benefit and achievements

In June 2021, Rocket Science was appointed by SSEW as the independent evaluator for the Safe Spaces pilot project. Their reports and the quarterly performance reports provided by Victim Support demonstrated the public benefit of the service to the victims and survivors. The service user feedback indicated that overall satisfaction with the service was high, with victims reporting very positive

Safe Spaces England and Wales

Trustees’ Report (incorporating a Strategic Report)

experiences with their advocates and feeling well supported. From data gathered from satisfaction surveys throughout the first year of the pilot, 100% of service users indicated their satisfaction with the service and felt that they were responded to well and felt empowered, with 94% saying that their wellbeing was improved as a result of the service. The full independent evaluation report for the two-year pilot of the Safe Spaces service was published in late 2022.

In September 2023, Rocket Science were again appointed to evaluate the service across the three-year delivery period with First Light. This includes iterative feedback across the three years, a yearly report for the first two years of the delivery period and a final complete report detailing the full accumulated data and evaluation of the service, as delivered by First Light from January 2023 to January 2026. The second yearly report was published in April 2025, covering the year from January 2024 to December 2024.

Based on the views of survivors engaged in the evaluation, consultations with staff, as well as the monitoring reports, the 2024 Rocket Science report stated that Safe Spaces had had a positive impact on the wellbeing and resilience of survivors. The support had significantly improved survivors’ quality of life, including improved mental health and allowed survivors to start feeling more in control of their lives and learning to navigate their trauma. The Safe Spaces service supported a total of 238 people during 2024, of which 154 were new cases and 84 were carried over from 2023.This shows an increase from the 134 people who were supported in 2023.

There were 820 eligible contacts to the service a 178% increase from 2023 and a 62% increase in the number of new cases. This is in part due to the promotion of Safe Spaces within Diocese and further development of the Safe Spaces website.

Developments made to the Safe Spaces website have been positively welcomed. Many users reported that it looked very professional and was easy to navigate. In the evaluation report 21.3% of respondents reported that they had been able to access other services as a result of the Safe Spaces website.

One victim/survivor reported: “I am certainly not a techy person but didn’t have any problems at all, easy to navigate, welcoming, professional kind of website, nothing extraordinary, more than adequate, fine.”

In November 2024 a remote online Peer Support group for survivors was piloted. It was seen as a success by participants who reported the benefits of having a safe space to share and connect with other victims and survivors of church related abuse. Further sessions have been carried out in 2025.

The planned full report from Rocket Science, due in March 2026, will expand the information and learning available about effective support provision for victims and survivors of Church-related abuse. It will be vital in informing service design as the next round of procurement gets underway in 2025 and will enable the SSEW Board to steer the scope and shape of the service to make it the most effective it can be in line with the aims and objectives of the service.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

The Charity’s results are set out in the Statement of Financial Activities (page 7), the Balance Sheet (page 9) and the Cash Flow Statement (page 10).

Summary

At the year-end 2024, total and unrestricted funds were £17 (2023: £17) and comprised cash of £73,180 (2023: £1,257), debtors of £103,400 (2023: £225,675) and creditors of £176,563 (2023: £226,915).

Income

Income for the year totalled £468,567 (2023: £457,405), with £465,007 (2023: £456,319) consisting entirely of grant income, and £3,560 (2023: £1,086) in bank interest received.

Expenditure

Charitable expenditure during the year totalled £468,567 (2023: £457,405), consisting of consultancy fees and support costs.

Safe Spaces England and Wales

Trustees’ Report (incorporating a Strategic Report)

Reserves

All of the Charity’s activities are funded by grant income and therefore the trustees do not consider it necessary to hold reserves.

PLANS FOR FUTURE PERIODS

First Light have been working to understand how to deliver the online peer support offer detailed in the delivery contract, by engaging with survivors and professional networks to design appropriate deliverables. Subject to board approval, this was piloted during Q4 of 2024, and further sessions have been carried out in the first half of 2025. Learning from the peer support sessions will enable First Light to plan further activities to engage and support survivors.

The SSEW board of trustees are beginning to look at plans for the charity and the service post January 2026, with a view to developing the service further and to the possibility of commissioning further services with other church denominations, in support of its objectives. This will include the addition of more survivor voices to the board, with the aim of placing victim and survivor voices at the heart of the charity’s strategy. The SSEW board is beginning planning for their strategy and vision post January 2026, and will be working with the Church of England and the Catholic Trust in England and Wales to understand their requirements for a continued service. This is with a view to securing further funding for the charity beyond January 2026.

Statement of trustees’ responsibilities

The trustees are responsible for preparing the annual report and the financial statements in accordance with the Companies Act 2006 and for being satisfied that the financial statements are prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Charity and of incoming resources and application of resources of the Charity for that period.

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

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

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that show and explain the Charity’s transactions, disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity, and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006.

They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and hence for taking responsible steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Approval

In preparing this report, the directors have taken advantage of the small companies’ exemptions provided by section 415A of the Companies Act 2006.

This report was approved by the board of trustees on 2 September 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

Dr James Herbert Harrison

Safe Spaces England and Wales

Independent Examiner’s Report to the members of Safe Spaces England and Wales

Opinion

I report to the Trustees on my examination of the accounts of Safe Spaces England and Wales for the period ended 31 December 2024 which are set out on pages 7 to 12.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The trustees (who are also the directors of the company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (“the 2006 Act”). The trustees are satisfied that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and have chosen instead to have an independent examination.

Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the charitable company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of the charitable company’s accounts as carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act. In carrying out my examination I have followed the requirements of the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner’s statement

Since the charity’s income is in excess of £250,000, your examiner must be a member of a body listed in the 2011 Act. I can confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a registered member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales which is one of the listed bodies.

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

Accounting records were not kept in respect of the Company as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or
The accounts do not accord with those records; or
The accounts do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act 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; or
The accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).

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.

Jane Askew FCA HaysMac LLP 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1AG

Date: 4 September 2025

Statement of Financial Activities For the year ended 31 December 2024

Safe Spaces England and Wales

Income from: Donations and grants 2 Bank interest received Total income Expenditure on: Charitable activities 3 Total expenditure Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds: Total funds at 31 December 2023 Total funds at 31 December 2024	2024	2023
	£	£


	465,007	456,319
	3,560	1,086
	468,567	457,405


	(468,567)	(457,400)
	(468,567)	(457,400)

	-	5



	17	12
	17	17

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.

All income and expenditure derives from continuing activities.

All funds were unrestricted.

Safe Spaces England and Wales

Balance Sheet As at 31 December 2024

Note Current assets Cash at bank and in hand Debtors 4 Total current assets Current liabilities Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 5 Net current liabilities Total assets less current liabilities Net assets Funds of the Charity Unrestricted funds Total funds at 31 December 2024	2024 £ 73,180 103,400 176,580 (176,563) (176,563) 17 17 17 17	2023 £ 1,257 225,675
		226,932
		(226,915)
		(226,915)
		17
		17
		17
		17

The directors consider that the Company is entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006.

The members have not required the Company to obtain an audit for the year in question in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.

The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 with respect to accounting records and the preparation of financial statements.

These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.

The Financial Statements of Safe Spaces England and Wales (Company No. 12888233) were approved and authorised for issue by the Board on 2 September 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

Dr James Herbert Harrison

Safe Spaces England and Wales

Cash Flow Statement For the year ended 31 December 2024

Note Net income for the year (as per the statement of financial activities) (Increase) in debtors 4 Increase in creditors 5 Net cash provided by operating activities Change in cash, cash equivalents and net debt in the year Cash, cash equivalents and net debt at 31 December 2023 Cash, cash equivalents and net debt at 31 December 2024 Analysis of cash, cash equivalents and net debt Cash at bank and in hand Total cash, cash equivalents and net debt	2024 £ - 122,275 (50,352) (71,923) 71,923 1,257 73,180 73,180 73,180	2023 £ 5 (130,312) 35,210
		(95,097) (95,097) 96,354
		1,257 1,257
		1,257

The Charity has no debt and therefore the reconciliation in cash and cash equivalents also represents the analysis of changes in net debt.

Notes 1 to 7 on the following pages form part of these Financial Statements.

Safe Spaces England and Wales

Notes to the Financial Statements for the period ended 31 December 2024

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Safe Spaces England and Wales is a company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 18 September 2020 and registered with the Charity Commission on 18 September 2020. The Charity’s governing document is its Memorandum and Articles of Association.

Safe Spaces England and Wales is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).

a) Basis of Preparation of Accounts

Safe Spaces England and Wales financial information has been prepared in accordance with:

Financial Reporting Standard 102: The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (“FRS 102”);
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) (“the SORP”); and
The Companies Act 2006.

The financial information has been prepared on the historical cost basis and on the accruals basis.

b) Going concern

There are no material uncertainties about the entity’s ability to continue as a going concern. The trustees have a reasonable expectation that Safe Spaces England and Wales has adequate resources and cash flows to meet its spending commitments for the foreseeable future.

c) Income

All income is recognised on the accruals basis. It is recognised when Safe Spaces England and Wales is entitled to the income, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount of income can be measured reliably.

Income from Donations and Donations predominantly represents grants received.

d) Expenditure

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis.

Charitable activity costs are the cost of operating Safe Spaces services.

Governance costs include costs associated with the governance arrangements of the Charity including the independent examination.

e) Taxation

Safe Spaces England and Wales is a charity within the meaning of Para 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010. Accordingly it is exempt from taxation in respect of income or capital gains within categories covered by Chapter 3 of Part 11 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes.

f) Related Parties

The two members are related to Safe Spaces England and Wales. Details are given in Note 6.

g) Funds

As all the Charity’s resources are spent in pursuit of its primary charitable objects, Safe Spaces England and Wales resources are categorised mainly under Unrestricted Funds.

h) Judgments in applying accounting policies and key sources of estimation uncertainty

There are no significant judgements or key sources of estimation uncertainty.

Safe Spaces England and Wales

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2024 (continued)

2. INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

. INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
Grants received from: Benefact Trust The Archbishops’ Council The Catholic Trust for England & Wales TOTAL	2024 Unrestricted Funds £ 87,000 242,348 135,659 465,007	2023 Unrestricted Funds £ 84,000 242,008 130,311
		456,319

Grant income is used by Safe Spaces to provide support for those affected by Christian church related abuse of any kind, and to promote research into such abuse and its consequences for those who experience it.

3. CHARITABLE EXPENDITURE

Core Service: Survivor Support Support costs TOTAL	2024 Unrestricted Funds £ 379,524 89,043 468.567	2023 Unrestricted Funds £ 367,004 90,396
		457,400

Support for survivors consists of consultancy and staff costs incurred in the setting up and running of these services. All support costs are allocated to this activity.

(i) Governance costs – independent examiner’s remuneration:

Included within charitable expenditure support costs are governance costs consisting of independent examination fees (inclusive of VAT):

Independent examiner’s fee TOTAL	2024 £ 3,559 3,559	2023 £ 3,623
		3,623

Safe Spaces England and Wales

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2024 (continued)

4. DEBTORS

Current assets : Amounts due within 1 year: Amounts due from the Catholic Trust for England and Wales (Note 6) . CREDITORS Current liabilities : Amounts due within 1 year: Amounts due to the Archbishops’ Council (see Note 6) Accruals Deferred income		2024 £ 103,400 103,400 2024 £ 83,577 88,986 4,000 176,563	2023 £ 225,675
			225,675
			2023 £ 148,913 78,002 -
			226,915

5. CREDITORS

6. RELATED PARTIES

Safe Spaces England and Wales is a jointly controlled entity between the Archbishops’ Council and the Catholic Trust for England and Wales. Each member holds equal guarantee rights in Safe Spaces England and Wales.

As at 31 December 2024 the following amounts were owed (to) / from related parties:-

	2024	2023
	£	£
The Archbishops’ Council	(83,577)	(148,913)
The Catholic Trust for England and Wales	103,400	225,675

7. EMPLOYEES AND TRANSACTIONS WITH TRUSTEES

There were no employees during the period. £240 (2023: £217 of travel and subsistence expenses incurred were reimbursed to one board member) of travel and subsistence expenses incurred were reimbursed to one board member during the year to 31 December 2024.