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2023-03-31-accounts

TOGETHER FOR MENTAL WELLBEING - ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2021-22

TOGETHER FOR MENTAL WELLBEING ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2022-23

Together for Mental Wellbeing 52 Walnut Tree Walk London SE11 6DN Tel: 020 7780 7300 www.together-uk.org

Charity Registration number: 211091 Company Registration number: 463505

39 -

TOGETHER FOR MENTAL WELLBEING - ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2022/23

CONTENTS

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION 1
INTRODUCTION FROM THE CHAIR
 2 - 3
CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT
 4 - 5
TRUSTEES’ REPORT (INCORPORATING STRATEGIC REPORT) 6 - 32
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT 33 - 36
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES 37
CONSOLIDATED AND CHARITY BALANCE SHEET 38
CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT 39
NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS
 40 – 58

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Charity name Registered name Charity registration number Company registration number

Together for Mental Wellbeing Together for Mental Wellbeing 211091 463505

Registered office

52 Walnut Tree Walk, London, SE11 6DN Tel 020 7780 7300 Email contact-us@together-uk.org Website www.together-uk.org

TRUSTEES INFORMATION

Carol Cole Paul Breakwell (appointed 30.11.22) Louise Bushby Angus Cameron Judy Clements JoAnne Cutting Deirdre Evans Vicky Johnson (appointed 23.06.22) Ian Jones Donald Mungall Kathie Pearce David Shakespeare Ben Thomas David Betteridge (appointed 30.11.22)

Chair Honorary Treasurer

OUTGOING TRUSTEES

John Banks (01.01.23) Sarah Morton (30.11.22)

COMPANY SECRETARY

Linda Bryant (resigned 29.11.22) Adrien Laure (appointed 30.11.22)

BOARD SECRETARY

Diane Swanton (resigned 09.02.23) Erica Wilkinson (appointed 06.03.23)

SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM

Linda Bryant Chief Executive Emma Edwards Director of Operations and Quality (permanent appointment 09.05.22) David Graham Director of Business Development Adrien Laure Director of Finance and Resources Jo Winstanley Interim Director of People and Organisational Development (contract ended 12.05.22) Sheila Cunliffe Interim Director of People and Organisation Development (appointed 05.07.22, contract ended 14.12.22)

AUDITORS - BDO LLP, 55 Baker Street, London, W1U 7EU BANKERS - NatWest Group, 250 Bishopsgate, London, EC2M 4AA SOLICITORS - Trowers and Hamlins LLP, 3 Bunhill Row, London EC1Y 8YZ

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INTRODUCTION FROM THE CHAIR

I am pleased to present our Annual Report and Accounts for 2022-23 which provide a full summary of the year’s activity.

As 2022 progressed, we started to emerge from the turbulence of the Covid-19 pandemic, and there was a real sense of normality returning. As a board of trustees, we were able to meet again in person, enabling us to focus on tackling new challenges for the charity amidst the cost-of-living crisis, inflation and ever more acute pressures on public finances. However, that sense of normality was slightly constrained when the first in-person Board meeting had to move back to being online due to a strike by rail workers, but luckily we are now all well practised in the art of the virtual world.

The challenging circumstances experienced in our communities and wider society in the past year, which continues into 2023, means the wellbeing of our staff and the individuals who use our services is at the forefront of our minds. As a charity we strive to support our valuable and skilled workforce to be resilient, with a particular focus on looking after their mental wellbeing as well as working hard to ensure our workplaces are enjoyable, welcoming and inclusive. This accords with our equally strong commitment to support those who use our services.

Beyond Together, there were many significant changes happening in our environment and the NHS generally, including the introduction of Integrated Care Systems (ICS) along with Integrated Partnership Boards and Integrated Care Boards. This has been a complex reorganisation of health and care arrangements, which will take time to implement. Whilst Together is not a large enough provider to have one of the few allocated seats at the table of local ICSs, there are opportunities for Together to influence VCSE representation through Provider Alliances and other networks.

We have continued to strengthen governance processes, and in the spirit of continuous improvement, and within the context of an ever-changing external landscape, the Board of trustees, in collaboration with the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), considered the charity’s strategic risks through a review of our Board Assurance Framework. Led by the Audit & Risk Committee, we are confident in having identified the material and emerging risks that may impact the delivery of Together’s strategic ambitions and the mitigating controls to meet the challenges.

As a Board, we have also focused on the importance of taking time to reflect on the organisation’s strategic priorities with a Strategy Away Day in June and further discussions with the ELT throughout the year leading to the development of two new strategies in the areas of finance and business development. These strategies will be pivotal in support of the charity’s future sustainability and in responding to the risks and opportunities facing us over the coming years. To build further resilience into the activities of Together, and to deliver the best outcomes for the people we work alongside, Trustees also considered a number of business cases during the year and agreed investment in Together’s infrastructure – in systems, property and in support of our digital capabilities.

Trustees, working closely with the ELT, are continually striving to mitigate the external factors that directly affect our staff, volunteers and of course the people we work alongside in our services. This why I, and other trustees, endeavour to get out and about to visit our services, to really understand the daily realities for people - those people who work for us and the people the charity supports. These visits are humbling but also affirming and bring home the amazing efforts of our staff and the extraordinary achievements of those they support. Highlights of the year include a visit to Avalon, a supported living service in Surrey, in celebration of its 30[th] anniversary and the opening of new and greatly appreciated facilities, as well as to a range of services we deliver in Norfolk.

Looking forward, our mission, vision and values have served us well in recent years and trustees, along with the ELT and wider organisation, will be working together over the next year to build on our strengths and develop a new corporate strategy to guide us over the next five years. We are positive about the future opportunities ahead of us, to continually improve what we do and to work in partnership with others to reach more people in need of care and support. We are proud that we continue to be known for our commitment to Service User Leadership, the golden thread that will continue to run through our future strategy, whereby people in our services are empowered to lead their own care and support, inform and

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influence the decisions we make as an organisation that most impact on them and champion their voices for change.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our staff, volunteers and the Board of trustees for their hard work and commitment on behalf of Together. I would like to give special thanks to John Banks, our former trustee treasurer, whose term as a member of the board came to an end this year. We benefitted hugely as an organisation from his knowledge, expertise, and experience. I would also like to thank Sarah Morton who took the difficult decision to stand down from her trustee role to focus on family commitments. Along with fellow trustees, I was delighted to welcome three new trustees, Vicky Johnson, David Betteridge and Paul Breakwell, our new Chair of FRIC and treasurer, and I look forward to working with them and all members of the Board during 2023.

Dr. Carol Cole

Chair of the Board of Trustees

3

CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT

As we headed towards Christmas 2022, there was a real sense in society, our local communities and within the community of Together for Mental Wellbeing (Together) that the turbulence and, for many people, the trauma of the pandemic was truly starting to ameliorate. Time with friends and family was no longer bound by rules and restrictions. Whilst the virus is still with us, for most of us, the risk to our health and wellbeing has been greatly diminished through the success of the vaccination programme and a greater awareness and understanding of transmission, being alert and managing symptoms.

At Together, we were proud of our resilience in being able to continue to work alongside people in our services over the last 2-3 years. Dilemmas we had faced, professionally and personally, were met head on and I witnessed countless occasions of colleagues helping each other out which was humbling. Without any sense of complacency, perhaps we were collectively starting to take a sigh of relief.

Tensions were then starting to build in eastern Europe. I don’t think any of us could have foreseen the impact the Russian invasion of a European country would have for the people of Ukraine. We had no idea of the severity of the far-reaching global impact and that 18 months on, the conflict would remain active and deadly.

There are clearly political, social and economic comparisons between these two global catastrophes, and resonating impacts and echoes on Together corporately, the people we work alongside and our workforce.

In light of current challenges, it has not been surprising that our staff have experienced extenuated stress and anxieties, including making difficult decisions as to whether they can financially afford to continue pursuing a vocation of supporting people experiencing mental distress. This is mainly due to the longstanding recruitment and retention challenges in mental health social care, which were exacerbated by the cost of living rises, high interest rates and inflation.

However, towards the end of the year, our successful Investors in People reaccreditation demonstrated that we are an organisation committed to our values – we never give up, we work hard to achieve our ambitions together and we do what we say. This enables the people we work alongside to lead their own care and support, live the life they choose and determine their own futures.

We remain financially resilient, continually learning and evolving services to meet the needs of people experiencing mental distress, which has been reflected in new service offers established during the year. These included:-

We also continued to focus on our future and tackle the strategic risks facing us, including the current cost of living rises and pressures on public sector funding, through progressing change programmes:

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We strive to do the very best we can for the people we work alongside but we can only achieve our ambitions for society, that everyone who experiences mental distress is valued, can live the life they choose and can determine their own futures, by working in partnership with others.

Over the last year we have been advocating and influencing decision-makers with respect to the necessary investment and focus on mental health social care that is required if we are truly to make a difference in people’s lives. This has included:

Together cannot achieve its ambitions for the people we serve without the skills, compassion and kindness of a loyal workforce of staff and volunteers. I can never truly thank them enough and I will continue to do whatever I can to ensure the experience of working for the charity is rewarding, recognised and valued.

Linda Bryant Chief Executive

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT (INCORPORATING STRATEGIC REPORT)

The Board of Trustees of Together for Mental Wellbeing presents its annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023. These comply with the Companies Act 2006 and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) applicable to Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102.

CHARITABLE DETAILS AND OBJECTIVES

Together for Mental Wellbeing (‘Together’) is a national charity working alongside people with mental health issues on their journey to leading fulfilling and independent lives. It operates throughout England.

Together was founded in 1879 and has been incorporated since 1949 as a company limited by guarantee. The organisation is registered in England under the company number 463505 and is also a registered charity with the number 211091 operating under the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Act 2011. Revised Articles of Association, which were adopted in October 2018, govern it and the Trustees are also directors of the company.

The charity's objectives are specific with the primary aim to promote and assist in the relief of persons suffering, or at risk of suffering from mental ill-health of any description or in need of rehabilitation as a result of such a condition. In particular the organisation seeks to achieve that through:

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In the section ‘Activities and Achievements’ we set out how we have specifically delivered on our charitable objectives and strategy during the current year.

GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT

The Board of Trustees (‘the Board’) is responsible for the overall governance of Together, ensuring it is effectively and properly run, and is meeting its overall purposes as set out in its Articles of Association. The governance of the charity is aligned with good governance practice as set out in the Charity Governance Code. The Board meets at least four times each year and sets objectives for itself in the first quarter in the form of an annual workplan. Four Board meetings were held during 2022-23. One of these meetings was held virtually, and the other three meetings were held in person. A Board strategy day, was held in person in June 2022.

During 2022-23, the Board received regular reports from the CEO on any residual management of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the organisation, as well as the management of the impact of cost of living rises, increasing inflation rates and access to public services on the workforce and the people who use our services. Throughout the year, quarterly organisational performance reports were reviewed by the Board based on a set of agreed key performance indicators to measure performance in particular areas.

The Board has delegated consideration of specific issues to five sub-committees, who make recommendations for Board approval in accordance with the agreed terms of reference and matters reserved for the Board. Each sub-committee meets quarterly to report back with the exception of the Nominations, Remuneration and Governance (the ‘NRG’) Committee, which meets at least once a year with additional meetings scheduled as necessary.

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analysis on trends, themes and learning from complaints, incidents, and CQC compliance. At each meeting the Committee reviewed incidents and accidents, none of which were reportable to the Charity Commission.

The terms of reference for each sub-committee were reviewed, and updates were approved by the Board in March 2022. The Board also reviewed and approved the Board’s terms of reference, and matters reserved to the Board, in March 2023.

The Trustees delegate the day-to-day management of the organisation to the Chief Executive, with a Scheme of Delegation in place, which is subject to annual review and approval by the Board (last reviewed and approved by the Board in June 2022). The Chief Executive reports directly to the Chair of the Board of Trustees, and is supported by a group of directors who constitute the Executive Leadership Team:

STATEMENT OF PUBLIC BENEFIT

The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission in determining the activities undertaken by the charity.

RISK MANAGEMENT

The Board and Executive Leadership Team identify and review how Together is managing its risks in the pursuit of its strategic objectives. Oversight of the organisation’s risk management system is within the remit of the Audit and Risk Committee (ARC).

ARC Review quarterly the Board Assurance Framework (BAF) and the Corporate Risk Register (CRR), in order to ensure that the Board receives appropriate assurance pertaining to risks to the delivery of the charity’s strategic objectives. The Board reviews the BAF bi-annually, with the Corporate Risk Register coming to the Board once a year.

Board Assurance Framework (BAF) was developed during 2019-20 and was reviewed during the year to ensure the strategic risks identified are relevant to the organisation strategy.

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The BAF comprises of which nine strategic risks:-

# Strategic Area Strategic Risk
1 Service Delivery Failure to deliver safe, quality assured and regulatory compliant services
2 Financial Failure to ensure financial viability
3 People Failure to anticipate and respond to workforce requirements for an
appropriately staffed, engaged and motivated workforce
4 Stakeholder
Management		 Failure to successfully identify and manage key external and internal
stakeholder relationships
5 Brand and
Reputation		 Failure to maintain and enhance our brand and reputation by not operating
according to our values, commitment to service user leadership and
enabling service users’ collective voice to inform and influence
6 Governance Failure to maintain and comply with robust charity governance
arrangements in line with Charity Commission guidance and other
regulatory requirements
7 Horizon Scanning Failure to anticipate and mitigate environmental, societal and governance
changes relevant to our charity
8 Organisational
Resilience		 Failure to maintain sufficient resilience against a national or global
catastrophe that impacts our service users, stakeholders, and the delivery
of our services.
9 Cybersecurity and
Digitalisation		 Failure to respond effectively to increasing digitalisation including
maintaining robust cybersecurity across the charity
10 Strategic Ambition Failure to set clear direction and plan the strategy of our charity with
ambition, vigour, and determination

The BAF provides the Board with a clear view of the charity’s strategic risks, including the management and mitigation of these risks, with consideration of the integrity of Service User Leadership also being assessed for each risk.

The Corporate Risk register comprises of risks primarily related to impact on service delivery and quality scoring 12 and above. In 2022- 2023 the CRR comprised of nine risks related to:

In 2022-2023 four internal audits completed by KPMG took place on Cyber Security, Contract Management Bidding, Whistleblowing / Raising Concerns and e-learning and training. The final audit reports have been shared with ARC with recommendations and actions being implemented.

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The internal Audit plan for 2023-2024 has been agreed, which sets out timings and scopes for future audits to be conducted. This was approved by the ARC in February 2023; the plan will be reviewed annually.

APPOINTMENT AND RECRUITMENT OF TRUSTEES

The number of Trustees on Together’s Board cannot be fewer than 3 or more than 18. The Board aims to retain an appropriate balance of skills, experience and backgrounds, given the diverse nature of the organisation’s work. Trustees are initially appointed to a term of office of three years’ duration, and may be reappointed by the Board for two subsequent three-year terms.

Lisa Goodwin’s third term of office came to an end in March 2022.

In February 2022, a recruitment campaign was launched to enable the appointment of a new trustee with lived experience of mental distress, so as to strengthen the voice of lived experience on the Board. As a result of the recruitment campaign, a successful appointment was recommended to the Board and Vicky Johnson was formally appointed to the Board on 23 June 2022.

In November 2022, a recruitment campaign for a new Chair of the Finance and Resources Committee was launched. As a result of the recruitment campaign, a successful appointments were recommended to the Board and Paul Breakwell, as the Chair of the Finance and Resources Committee, and David Betteridge, as Trustee and member of the Finance and Resources Committee and Audit and Risk Committee, were formally appointed to the Board on 30 November 2022.

A full induction is provided for all new Trustees, including meetings with senior staff, service visits, and access to formal documents relating to the governance of Together, along with relevant Charity Commission publications and other charity governance guidance. New Trustees are also directed to mandatory formal training courses on safeguarding, and equality and diversity. The induction process is kept under regular review. Trustees are updated on current good practice, formal guidance and training opportunities through regular mailings.

Committee Membership as of 31 March 2023:

Quality & Safety Workforce Finance,
Resources &
Investment		 Audit & Risk Nominations,
Remuneration &
Governance
Ben Thomas
(Committee Chair)		 David Shakespeare
(Committee Chair)		 Paul Breakwell
(Committee Chair)		 Deirdre Evans
(Committee Chair)		 Carol Cole
(Committee Chair)
Angus Cameron Louise Bushby Angus Cameron Judy Clements Louise Bushby
Carol Cole_(Ex_
officio)		 Carol Cole_(Ex_
officio)		 Carol Cole_(Ex_
officio)		 Ian Jones Judy Clements
Jo Cutting Donald Mungall Ian Jones Donald Mungall David Shakespeare
Kathie Pearce Kathie Pearce David Betteridge

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Attendance by Trustees at meetings of the Board and its sub-committees, 2022-23

The table below sets out the attendance of Trustees at meetings of the Board and its sub-committees during 2022-23[1] :

Trustee Board
(4
meetings)		 Quality &
Safety
(4 meetings)		 Finance,
Resources &
Investment
(4 meetings)		 Audit &
Risk
(4
meetings)		 Nominations,
Remuneration
& Governance
(3 meetings)		 Workforce
(4
meetings)
Carol Cole 4 2 2 3 4
David Betteridge 2 (2) 2 (2)
Paul Breakwell 2 (2) 2 (2) 1 (1)
Louise Bushby 3 3 3
Angus Cameron 3 2 2
JudyClements 3 3 3
Jo Cutting 4 2
Deirdre Evans 4 4
Ian Jones 4 3 3
Vicky Johnson 1 (3)
Donald Mungall 4 4 3
Kathie Pearce 2 4 3
David Shakespeare 4 3 4
Ben Thomas 4 4

EMPLOYEES AND VOLUNTEERS

Together has over 506 employees across England.

Together is indebted to its network of over 68 volunteers, whose support continues to be so valuable to the success of our organisation and to the difference made to the lives of people experiencing mental distress.

Investors in People

Together is pleased to confirm that we achieved re-accreditation as an Investors in People (IIP) employer in 2023, which we have held for over 15 years and are very grateful for the extra effort made by our staff in taking part in this process.

We have reviewed the IIP assessment feedback and in line with our values, organisation strategy, and business plans, we use this feedback to adapt our plans and activities. Together faces a continued challenging external environment but is pleased to be able to build on the positive feedback received from our assessment, notably; our encouraging and supportive managers whose staff feel appreciated, valued and encouraged to find better ways of doing things to improve outcomes for our service users.

The Investors in People framework is used to accredit over 50,000 organisations, has been refined over 3 decades and is a tool that helps us to focus our effort so that we can enhance our performance. It enables us to measure our performance in leading and supporting our staff and creating sustainable success, in order to achieve our ambition.

While accreditation is completed every three years, we maintain contact with our assessor in the intervening years and use their external expertise to review areas where Together is performing well and areas where we can improve, ensuring we are confident in our employment offer and management strategies.

1 This does not include reference to where Trustees may have observed meetings of other sub-committees, of which they do not hold membership. Where a Trustee was only a sub-committee member for part of the year, the number of meetings that they could have attended is shown in brackets.

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EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT

Regular meetings are held with employees so that they are involved in and consulted on matters of concern, and can contribute to the running of the organisation. Together operates a Workforce Representatives Council (WRC) where union and non-union staff representatives meet with management to discuss matters relating to staff working terms and conditions, as well as issues that will positively support employment within Together. Together has a Statement on Equality and Diversity on the website, which outlines the approach to involvement in the workforce.

The WRC is integral to our commitment to the workforce to help ensure their views are represented and communicated to the Senior Leadership Team. The aim is to make Together the best workplace it can be and to ensure any issues or innovations are responded to at a senior level. The WRC is made up of 8 people including an officer of UNISON. Only UNISON has the right to negotiate on such issues as salary, hours of working, and general terms and conditions. Together has signed a recognition agreement with UNISON.

Together has 9 inclusion groups which enable our workforce to talk about their experiences within the workplace. The groups create space for staff to offer each other peer support, identify what is working well and what changes could be considered to make our working environment more inclusive. Any issues and ideas are reviewed and discussed between representatives from each group and members of senior management at the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group meeting.

Together seeks feedback from our workforce though regular surveys to understand our workforce experience, learn what is working well within the organisation and where things can be improved. The results of these surveys are shared with our workforce and our Board of Trustees.

SECTION 172 STATEMENT

WORKING WITH OUR STAKEHOLDERS

Companies are required to include a statement of how directors have had regard to wider stakeholder needs when performing their duties in accordance with matters in section 171 (1) (a) – (f) of the Companies Act 2006. The duty of the trustee under this subsection of the Acts is to act in the way he or she consider, in good faith, would be most likely to achieve its charitable purposes and in doing so have regard (among other matters) to:

We fully acknowledge that in order to fulfil the purpose and vision for the charity and to meet our strategic ambitions for society we need to collaborate and engage effectively with a wide variety of stakeholders. We are cognisant of the fact that the decisions we make as a charity need to be transparent and have due consideration for the potential effects and impacts on those stakeholders in the short, medium and longterm.

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The Board considers the following to be the key decisions and considerations it has made during the year to March 2023:

Significant event /
consideration / decision		 s172 matter
affected		 Action and impact
The Board discussed and
approved the cases for
closure of two CQC
registered services,
Green Lane and Kelvin
Grove		 Service users and
their families, staff
and volunteers and
commissioners		 The Board received two business cases to
close the services:
•
Kelvin Grove, based on financial
considerations, including low bed prices,
lack of local market demand and
environmental challenges.
Commissioners were supportive and all
service users were successfully re-
located to their satisfaction.
•
Green Lane, based on financial
considerations as well as staff
recruitment and retention challenges. All
service users were successfully re-
located ahead of schedule and the
majority of staff re-deployed.
The Board reviewed and
endorsed two new
strategies in the areas of
finance and business
development		 Service users, staff
and volunteers,
funders,
commissioners ,
partnering
organisations		 Both strategies had been developed in
collaboration with trustees and with
colleagues across the organisation.
Whilst the Finance Strategy considered
resources, funding, investment and KPIs, the
Business Development strategy identified
core business to develop further and new
business
in
conjunction
with
future
partnerships and alliances.
The Board reviewed and
approved capital
investments in response
to three business cases:-
development of York
Road (CQC Service);
digital re-design and
development and wifi
infrastructure		 Service users, staff,
volunteers,
commissioners,
provider agencies,
referrers, regulator		 The Board approved the business case to
redevelop part of the site at York Road, a
highly regarded CQC service, future-proofing
its offer.
The Board approved an investment in a new
website and intranet. Together’s website is
the first point of contact for service users,
key stakeholders and funders while the
intranet is a core resource for internal
stakeholders.
Finally the Board approved an investment in
the renewal and further deployment of our
wifi Infrastructure, providing greater
coverage and resilience across our services.

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The Board reviewed and
approved a new donor
and fundraising policy
and reviewed and
approved the updated
Treasury and Investment
and Reserves policy		 Service users, staff
and volunteers,
funders,
commissioners ,
partnering
organisations		 The Board assessed the policies that fall
under its remit for review and approval; two
of these policies were reviewed and
refreshed during 2022-23.
The Board had recommended that an ethics
policy be drafted to guide decisions on
unsolicited donations. In March 2022, the
Board reviewed the approach to be taken to
this policy and agreed that it should focus on
donor and fundraising ethics, and in June
2022 the policy was approved by Board and
noted that future review of the policy would
be delegated to ARC.

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ENGAGING WITH OUR STAKEHOLDERS

Whilst trustees have a duty to ensure decisions have due consideration for the impact on beneficiaries in the widest sense, the day-to-day management of Together’s stakeholders is delegated to the executive and wider staff team. That is led by an interest / influence matrix, which is used to map and determine approaches to effective engagement by the charity.

At Together, we consider stakeholders as internal or external, but we also bear in mind that in legal terms, stakeholders can be thought of in three categories. Firstly, there are constitutional stakeholders, meaning trustees of the Board with powers to amend the charity’s constitution, to change its name, to wind it up and to appoint and remove individuals to the board. There are also contractual stakeholders as individuals and organisations, such as staff, funders and service users with a formal relationship with Together. Finally, there are third party stakeholders, which is everyone else affected by Together including neighbours or the wider local community.

The Audit & Risk committee undertakes a biannual review of the organisation’s stakeholder plan, noting the importance and relevance of the plan to achieving the organisation’s strategic aims.

In the following table, we set out a summary of the engagement approaches we have taken in the last year in response to the issues presented by our identified stakeholder groups.

Stakeholder group
and why they are
important to our
success		 Their issues How we engage Where to find
further information
in this report
showing impact of
the engagement
Users of our
services and their
families and friends		 •Services that keep
them safe and
support their health
and wellbeing
•Empowered to lead
their own care and
support
•Supported to
develop their
insights, skills and
potential to lead
more independent
lives		 •Feedback in our
services
•Working alongside
service users to
develop their own
support and care plans
•Facilitating service
users to tell their
stories and what
matters to them
through a range of
different mediums,
including on the
Together website and
social media
•Development of
Service Impact
Measures
•Implementation of a
new Service User
Leadership Strategy		 Together Strategy
2019-24 - Page 20
Activities and
achievements - Page
23
Our employees who
are skilled,
experienced and
competent and
experiencing high
levels of job
satisfaction are key
to delivering the best
outcomes for service
user		 •Opportunities for
professional
development and
career progression
•Fair and
transparent pay
and reward
structures
•Opportunities for
colleagues to work
together across
services, to share		 •The financial
challenges of operating
in the mental health
social care sector has
a direct impact on our
ability to secure pay
offers for our workforce
reflective of the skills
and expertise required
- we experience
minimal uplifts on our
contracted income		 Chief Executive’s
Report – Page 4
Employees and
Volunteers – Page 11

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learning and good
practice
•Empowered and
enabled to inform
and influence
planning at an
organisation level		 year-on-year as our
costs rise. In response
we initiated a
significant programme
of work focusing on
Recruitment, Reward
and Retention, the
‘3Rs’.
•Engagement is also
undertaken through
regular All Staff emails,
video updates from the
CEO, ‘Ask ELT’ Town
Hall events, visits to
services by members
of the ELT and trustees
•A Workforce Reps
Council (WRC)
operates where union
and non-union staff
representatives meet
with management to
discuss matters
relating to staff working
terms and conditions
and on issues that will
positively support
employment within
Together. There has
been a focus over the
last year to ensure its
aims and objectives
are promoted with all
staff.
•Ongoing engagement
with the Investors in
People Accreditation
process and successful
reaccreditation within
year
Our volunteers who
help us to achieve
our vision for
Together through
their generous
contributions of
time, expertise and
knowledge		 •Opportunities to
support people
from a lived
experience
perspective
•Ability to inform and
influence the
organisation
•Confident that they
will receive the right
level of support,
supervision and
training from the
organisation		 •Ongoing recruitment of
new members to our
NSG, a group of
volunteers with lived
experience of mental
distress, meet regularly
to support
developments within
the organisation. This
has included people
who use Together
services
•Extensive evaluation of
our peer support offers,
particularly with respect
to the support and
supervision of
volunteer peer
supporters.		 Chief Executive’s
Report
Workforce – Page 4
Service User
Leadership – Page 24

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Our funders and
commissioners who
enable us to meet
our vision purpose
as an organisation		 •We deliver our
services to our
contractual
promises
•We have robust
governance and
assurance
•We provide high-
quality and safe
care
•We demonstrate a
capacity to be
flexible and
adaptable in the
way we deliver our
services		 •We provide good
quality quantitative and
qualitative data that
supports contract
monitoring
•We are continuously
learning from incidents
and events to improve
our services
•We maintain regular
contact with all our
commissioners and
funders, using informal
and formal fora, to
agree expectations and
to ensure consistency
of support to service
users		 Introduction from the
Chair – Page 2
Chief Executive’s
Report – Page 4
Governance Structure
and Management –
Page 7
Activities and
achievements - Page
23
Provider
organisations we
collaborate with and
rely on to deliver our
services		 •Working to agreed
contract
requirements and
payment terms
•Shared
commitment to
partnership working
to keep our service
users healthy and
safe		 •We have a clearly
articulated
organisational strategy
•We undertake due
diligence to ensure that
we are collaborating
with organisations who
share our values, ethos
and standards		 Together Strategy
2019-24 - Page 20
Activities and
achievements - Page
23
Local communities
and wider society
that enable us to
fulfil our strategic
ambitions		 •Everyone who
experiences mental
distress is valued
•Everyone can live
the life they choose
•Everyone can
determine their own
future		 •Working in
collaboration with
organisations and
agencies across the
health and social care
sector to influence
policy and strategic
decision-making at a
local and national level
•Using our
communication
channels to promote
the voice of service
users and the issues
that are important to
them		 Chief Executive’s
Report – Page 4
Together Strategy
2019-24 - Page 20
Activities and
achievements - Page
23

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GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND ENERGY CONSUMPTION

Previous Reporting Year 2021-22 Current Reporting Year 2022-23
Energy
Consumption		 kWh
kWh
km
km		 Gas
1,530,098
Electricity
515,817
Transport fuel
149,907
Rail
147,400
Total
2,343,222		 Gas
1,365,563
Electricity
476,715
Average Car Mileage
542,907
Regular Taxi
6,289
Average Local Bus
1,274
Rail
327,440
Total
2,720,188
Emissions
(tCO2e)		 (tco2e) Gas
280.25
Electricity
109.52
Transport fuel
59.00
Rail
8.20
Total
456.97		 Gas
264.07
Electricity
87.02
Transport fuel
93.72
Rail
11.62
Total
456.43

The current Greenhouse Gas emissions and Energy Consumption Report above is more detailed than last year’s reporting. Travel by land usage has been broken down into Car Mileage, Regular Taxi, Average local bus and National Rail. Each of them uses a different NGA factors to calculate tCO2e.

The following steps have been taken in the past years to improve Together’s energy efficiency and reduce emissions:

In addition to the above, we continue to maintain the following initiatives to inform practices for staff members:

Since the Covid-19 ‘lockdown’ and related restrictions resulting in the requirement for Together staff to work in different ways, we have adapted our ways of working in many ways that promote sustainability and have adopted these practices into our business continuity. This includes more regular use of video and audio conferencing and other IT platforms for remote communication and connectivity, such as the addition of ‘town hall’ meetings for the organisation.

We have maintained the provision of online training courses which were previously delivered ‘face to face’ and digitalised processes, such as post and invoicing for the organisation, reducing paper consumption within the organisation by around 65%.

We have made efforts to ensure care homes are mindful of gas consumption within estates planning such as the installation of smart meters and a focus on insulation. Hotter temperatures have also contributed to a decrease in domestic usage of gas, with a reduced need to utilise heating systems. The last year has seen implantation of changes benefitting the organisation’s emissions in 2022-23 and beyond.

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Intensity ratio:

The intensity ratio has increase comparing to last years. During 2022-23 the average number of employees, including part time workers was 506. Therefore, the carbon emissions were 1.149 tCOe per employee during 2022-2023 (Compared to 1.104 tCOe per employee during 2021/2022).

The number of service users reached during 2022-2023 was 12039. Therefore the carbon emission is 0.048 tCOe per service user.

Methodology:

Methodology used in the report is based on HM Government Environmental Reporting Guidelines, 2022. All emission factors are taken from HM Government conversion factors 2022: Condensed set.

Consumption data from gas and electricity was taken from validated and verified utility suppliers’ invoices. Consumption data from business travel-by-land usage was taken from Together’s internal software.

GOING CONCERN NOTE

Last year’s accounts focussed on the tail-end of the Covid-19 pandemic. Whilst this has not disappeared, instances are more sporadic and business is more as-usual than it was in the previous three years. Instead, new pressures are materialising in the form of high inflation and availability challenges for goods and services, cost of living pressure for staff and service users alike (including high interest rates) and the resulting expectation on employers to increase pay accordingly.

For non-staff costs, Together continue to operate a lean cost base. Nevertheless, building costs, catering provisions and utilities have increased significantly compared to 12-24 months ago. We also saw some limited availability for IT equipment, which was manageable. In response, Together put in place new centralised contracts for all services to use. These should help alleviate cost pressure experienced by our services. In the meantime, we continue to mitigate the risks through our budgetary management and forecasting procedures.

The Charity’s income is primarily generated from the supply of contracted services, which are predominantly fixed and multi-year. For 2023-24, individual contract fees have increased between 1.5% - 9% depending on the commissioner / funding authority and we thank them for the financial support provided in those challenging times.

In the meantime, we continue to assess the viability of (re)tendering for new and current services through our bid management and scrutiny processes against the impact of rising costs, particularly for contracts of a longer duration where there are no guaranteed annual uplifts to income.

At the time of the balance sheet date, Together held cash and investments totalling £9.84m and had no loans outstanding. The directors and Trustees considered the impact of a high-inflationary environment on the future liquidity of the Group by reviewing a full 5-year income, expenditure, cash and reserves forecast under a set of assumptions considered as prudent. This forecast, combined with an assessment of the future reserves position, forms the basis of our assessment of going concern. It has been stress tested using reverse stress testing. Overall, the Trustees believe that the assumptions used are conservative and the directors have identified several mitigation opportunities as part of the 2023-24 budget process should those assumptions be adversely impacted. Finally, we have also considered whether there is any material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt over the use of that basis for a period of at least 24 months from the date of approval of the financial statements and we do not believe that this is the case.

Based on this review, the directors and Trustees have identified no material uncertainties that may cast significant doubt about the ability of the charity to continue as a going concern and therefore, these accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis.

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TOGETHER STRATEGY 2019-24

Together was founded 141 years ago by Henry Hawkins. Born in 1825, the Reverend Hawkins worked for over 40 years as a Chaplain in asylums, supporting the emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing of patients. Driven by his belief in the common humanity of all people, he worked tirelessly to improve the lives of people in asylums. He introduced new ideas and inspired like-minded people to volunteer to connect patients with their families, communities and the wider world.

In 1879, through his foresight and perseverance, the Reverend Hawkins founded our charity with the aim of breaking the cycle of recovery and re-admission. He looked to support people who seemed well, left the asylum and then were re-admitted because of a lack of support or purpose in life. He did that by offering people practical and emotional support to prevent them becoming unwell again. Through the founding principles of the charity, Reverend Hawkins challenged societal thinking. He proved that with the right practical and emotional support, people could lead fulfilling lives without prejudice and without being defined by their mental distress.

DEVELOPING OUR LEGACY

We are deeply proud of what Henry Hawkins achieved and his unique legacy continues to drive and influence our beliefs and aspirations for the future. Our 2019-24 strategy has represented the next stage in the life cycle of Together. This is why it was important at the start of the development of this strategy, that we identified ‘legacy’ strengths. They are the areas that we are proud of and are important to us, which we wanted to take into the future. These include:

OUR STRATEGY MAP

Our 2019-24 strategy map is shown below and was developed from the top down as we defined our ambition, purpose and vision. When reading the map it is designed to be read from the bottom up, starting at the foundation with the drivers of our behaviours and attitudes, our values.

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OUR VISION FOR TOGETHER

A recognised charity leader in its field delivering high quality mental health and support services, empowering service users to lead their own care and support and enabling their collective voice to inform and influence.

OUR PURPOSE

To work alongside people with mental distress to develop their insights, skills and potential and to promote their voices to improve policy and practice for all.

OUR AMBITION FOR SOCIETY

Everyone who experiences mental distress is valued, can live the life they choose and determine their own future.

OUR VALUES

As part of developing this new strategy, we reviewed and refreshed our organisational values. We have a value statement and a set of five values that are the behaviours which guide the way we work. Our value statement is below:

“We work together to facilitate choice through involvement, by doing what we say, never giving up on people, and looking to constantly improve how we work.”

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Together’s values are as follows:

COLLABORATION: ACHIEVING TOGETHER

CHOICE: THROUGH INVOLVEMENT

INTEGRITY: DOING WHAT WE SAY

RESILIENCE: NEVER GIVING UP ON PEOPLE

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT: LEARNING AND EVOLVING

The core principle that runs through the organisation is our approach to involving, informing and influencing our work through people who use our services

By delivering our services in accordance with our values, we will aim to achieve our vision for Together. This will fulfil the reason we exist as an organisation and contribute, in partnership with others, to our ambition for society. Core to that is involving people who use our services – the ‘golden thread’ that runs through all that we do.

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We know that people experiencing mental distress are at risk of not getting the support they need from wider services, not being empowered to be in control of that support and not having a voice in service and system design. We have gained many insights about what is important to our own service users, staff, volunteers and trustees. During the next five years, success will mean that we have:

ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

We have been able to take forward all of the positive changes over the last 3 years as a result of the pandemic. This has enabled us to provide much more flexibility and choice to our service users, for example, video and phone support, having a presence in A&E`s and being more embedded within our local communities. We have made incredible progress in working in partnership with primary care and supporting both the physical and mental wellbeing of people accessing our services.

The way we adapted and delivered throughout 2020 into 2021 & 2022 meant that we were first choice in supporting some our funding authorities with initiatives around the NHS long term plan and CMHF (Community Mental Health Framework). We are committed to continuing this work so we can support more people flexibly and effectively to achieve better lives and outcomes .

OPERATIONAL OVERVIEW

Over the last year we have seen the impact of the cost of living crisis on our service users and staff. This also translates into our recruitment and retention position as social care is the most impacted sector. This has also brought about innovation within our teams and services, with many now leading on recruitment and retention and adapting to the current climate. We have been successful in winning new business via procurement and organic growth over the past year. Those include a new rehab service in Norfolk, which is working in partnership with housing and statutory services to reduce homelessness and improve outcomes for people. The Southwark Community Sanctuary was launched in Autumn 2022 which provides alternative crisis support in the area while we also have a Black Carers support group in Southwark. Our new Reading Community Outreach Service is working in partnership to support a broad range of people, including refugees and young people in crisis. With these new services we have been able to broaden our reach to provide diverse and dynamic services to those who are hardest to reach and most at risk of hardship and adversity.

SERVICE USER LEADERSHIP

Throughout this year, we have continued to ensure that Service User Leadership is at the heart of all we do across Together by ensuring that the people who use our services lead their care and support at all levels of the organisation.

Since publishing our newly developed definitions of Service User Leadership and lived experience of mental distress in 2019, the Service User Leadership Team developed and launched a brand new strategy map alongside our National Steering Group in May 2022. The objectives outlined in our map will support the organisation to understand what we will achieve as we collectively navigate this journey ahead.

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The National Steering Group continue to work alongside us to provide a lived experience perspective on strategic decisions and discussions. During 2022-2023 we launched a new set of Service User Leadership principles that will underpin any service user led activity across the organisation moving forwards. The aim of this piece of work is to build on the existing knowledge and skills of our workforce when translating Service User Leadership into practice. We have also recently finalised the content for our brand-new Service User Leadership Framework which will be utilised across our Central Support Services to ensure there is consistency in our approach when working alongside people with mental distress, in a way that also aligns to our new principles and organisational values. We are due to launch the framework in Q2 2023-2024.

The organisation has also completed several policy reviews, the majority of which are our core operational policies at Together, to ensure that the new Service User Leadership Principles are embedded into the way we deliver our frontline services. During 2023-2024 the focus will be for the Service User Leadership Team to continue to work collaboratively with operational colleagues to bring the policies to life and ensure that Service User Leadership underpins the cultural life of all Together services.

Together were also a part of the National Service User Awards Hosted by Cygnet in 2022, with a member of the Service User Leadership Team, alongside the CEO, in the role of Head Judge for the category ‘’Breaking Down Barriers’’. This was an inspirational and exciting opportunity to raise awareness for brilliant work happening across the sector, whilst building relationships and working collaboratively with our colleagues in external organisations.

PEER SUPPORT

Almost 6000 hours of peer support has been received from our peer workforce of volunteers and workers this year who have supported 277 people to access peer support how they would like to, within a group or one-to-one and either in-person, on-line or by phone.

Following the in-depth review of peer support across the organisation within Peer Support Development & Expansion work undertaken in the last financial year, the team worked on the identified key actions within the report.

The Together Peer Support Model & Principles were reviewed by all those involved in peer support across the organisation and a new organisational graphic was produced to reflect our updated model and seven peer support principles.

A comprehensive Peer Support Framework was developed to support the implementation of Togethers unique model of peer support across our services and gives staff and volunteers the resources needed to support them to operationalise service user led peer support within their services.

Peer Support Staff Training continued to be developed in response to feedback and two trainings are offered to staff and delivered by the Service User Leadership Team. Peer Support in Practice Training for staff in services with peer support was delivered in October, December and February and our Introduction to Peer Support Training for those in central support services or services without peer support was delivered in February.

Peer Workforce Job Descriptions and Role Descriptions were updated and standardised across the organisation for a consistency across the various peer roles.

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The mandatory Peer Support Training was reviewed to ensure that it was appropriate for our various types of services and for our peer support workers and volunteers. Working groups took place with input from our peer workforce to ensure that our training reflected their views and our new 3 Day Peer Support Training with central resources was available for delivery within services from December. 9 Peer Support Trainings took place across the organisation this year.

Peer Support Impact & Experience Measures - the Service User Leadership Team worked with operations to develop and set up organisational systems and processes which will support having a standardised and consistent approach to collecting data and feedback on peer support across the organisation. This would enable a collective understanding of the impact and experiences of those giving and receiving peer support from the next financial year.

Self-Management Groups - resources were reviewed and updated and available for services for the next financial year.

PeerFest , an external event to celebrate all things peer support, took place in October and was attended by the Peer team of staff and peer support volunteers within the Criminal Justice - Liaison & Diversion service who shared how they support those with lived experience of mental distress and the criminal justice system.

Peer support workers in our Norfolk services contributed to research study into Peer support, professionalisation and authenticity in mental health services:

Addressing the above key areas will enable the team to focus on offering bespoke support to services to understand and operationalise peer support in line with best practice moving forward and to increase their focus on external connections and collaborative working with identified stakeholders.

SUPPORT AND SERVICES

Over the past year we have helped around 12,039 people with mental health needs across England.

ACCOMMODATION SERVICES

Our accommodation services achieved significant results during the financial year 2022/23. We have been busy delivering the accommodation strategy, which has led to significant investment within the improvement and development of our property portfolio. One of the properties that we own has been identified for a significant renovation and extension project that will offer increased capacity and higher quality accommodation, including ensuites.

We introduced an occupancy management process and tracker; this delivers a much more live process and allows us to track voids and referral activity in each service. This allows us to be much more responsive to issues and risk for each service on an individual basis.

We have completed an environmental review and established a RAG model for property maintenance and completed most of the red actions, while planning for amber and green actions. Following viability assessments aligned to the accommodation strategy, we had to make the difficult decision to close two of our registered services, the environment provided within the two services was not to the Together standard and had become outdated and no longer viable. The CQC inspections and reviews during the financial year have confirmed the rate of our existing services, as a result at the end of the financial year we sustained a “good” CQC rating across our registered services and our supported living branch.

During the financial year 2022-23 we supported 334 people in our 25 accommodation-based services: 12 registered homes and 13 supported accommodation services.

23% of the total number of service users living in our accommodations (77 service users) moved on from our services during the year.

Our CQC services: in 2022/23, of those 49 individuals who moved on within the year, 39% stayed in our registered homes under 2 years (28% between 2 and 5 years and 33% for over 2 years).

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Supported Living: in 2022/23, of those 28 who moved on within the year, 36% of people stayed for under 2 years and 86% stayed for under 5 years in our supported accommodation services.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

There has been lots of change and development within our community support services. We said goodbye to our Swale Your Way service. Due to geographical changes to the Kent CC patch, mental health community services previously commissioned by Porch Light moved across to Shaw Trust. Under Shaw Trust, the funding envelope dramatically decreased, which did not leave us any opportunity to tender for future services.

In other areas, we continue to grow, develop and innovate.

Due to the successes of our current services and good reputation with commissioners, our community support services continue to provide organic growth opportunities.

NORFOLK INTEGRATED HOUSING AND COMMUNITY SUPPORT SERVICE (NIHCSS)

Over the last year, NIHCSS reputation and presence in Norfolk has continued to grow. The successes seen within the service has led to multiple opportunities for organic growth.

Norfolk County Council commissioners signed off on our proposal of adding five Recovery Worker Apprentice roles to the NIHCSS services. The Apprentice programme will alleviate some of the current recruitment pressures we are experiencing due to the lack of HSC workforce. We will benefit from growing our own talent pool for upcoming vacancies and add social value to the local community. The commissioners fed back that the programme was an innovative approach to reinvesting the contract underspend, which will be used to fund the positions for the next five years of the service.

In the autumn of 2022, we were approached by Public Health to support with an application to The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) for a Housing Related Support grant. The application was successful and we received £570K to deliver a two-year county wide housing related support service and interventions to people in substance misuse treatment with an identified housing need. The service is due to launch on 1[st] July 2023 with a full staffing team.

At the beginning of 2023, we secured £120k per year funding from Norfolk & Waveney ICB to extend the Severe Mental Illness (SMI) Physical Health Assessment project for a further two years. The contract was directly awarded due to the success of the pilot project in reaching those with a SMI who have not previously engaged with the health checks, uptake in Norfolk has seen a dramatic increase since the project has been in place. In addition, we were approached by N&WICB to plan and host a series of wellbeing events across Norfolk, to raise awareness of the importance of the annual health checks and maintaining good physical wellbeing when managing severe mental illness.

Recently, we have received confirmation that the specialist SMI Tobacco Cessation pilot project will be expanded across Norfolk from 23/24. This is following the successes evidenced in the initial four Norfolk PCN pilot areas during 22/23. We will continue to work in partnership with East Coast community Healthcare to deliver the service.

Discussions have begun to expand the SMI rehabilitation for those with complex psychosis project, which was piloted in Norwich last year, across Norfolk and Suffolk. We look forward to taking these discussions forward in the coming year.

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The Head of Regional Operations continues to Chair of the Mental Health Providers Forum, sits on the Board for the N&W VCSE Assembly and represents the VCSE sector on ICB steering groups and boards. Building on the good reputation of our current service and excellent commissioning relations, we look forward to further growth opportunities in the year ahead.

REPRESENTING RIGHTS THROUGH ADVOCACY

Together’s Advocacy services over the year have been discussing rights with patients particularly in terms of care, treatment and detention. Our staff instruct people on how to appeal and support during ward rounds, MDT meetings, CPA’s, Tribunals and independent Hospital Managers Hearings (appeal of section/detention). This is in addition to supporting patients with generic quality of life issues such as facilities, menus, property education. There has been an increase in patients raising staff related issues particularly in relation to short staffing in hospitals or use of bank staff that patients are not familiar with which has led to cancellation of activities and reduction of named nurse sessions. This reflects the current national picture around challenges in recruitment and retention of qualified nursing staff in both NHS and private sector providers.

Together was successful in securing a 12-month contract extension for the Nottinghamshire Forensic (High, Medium, Low Secure) and Nottingham CAMHS services. The fluctuating Covid 19 situation over the last year has continued to be the main challenge with wards across all hospitals having outbreaks at times resulting in localised lockdowns. As such the team continued with hybrid working style moving between 1:1 face to face support to remote platforms such as MS Teams or telephone work to ensure continuity of service and ensure advocacy support has remained available throughout each episode.

Challenges will be upcoming over the next few months as changes to the Mental Health Act are put into practice. That will mean more people will be able to access advocacy as Independent Mental Health Advocate (IMHA) support will be extended to informal patients and an opt in rather than opt out regime will be introduced in relation to advocacy. Some services have faced long term sickness absences that impacted on keeping up to date with referrals and meeting deadlines.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

The Criminal Justice team at Together have begun preparing for changes that will come in the next few years, which include an external review of our Liaison and Diversion (L&D) service. There will also be a new procurement exercise for our Together Wellbeing Pathway (TWP) which we anticipate will be at some point between April and June 2023. The team submitted a business case to the Executive Leadership Team to introduce a Clinical Lead role and that was successful with recruitment underway. This has now been introduced as a permanent role as part of the operational consultation and restructure that was conducted. We also introduced 2 new volunteer roles (for 6 months each) filled by psychology students, are leading on a piece of work to define Together’s offer of professional consultation, and the interventions we use.

The Criminal Justice team retained our Community Harm Exploitation Operational Group (CHEOG) service contract for this financial year with one Forensic Mental Health Practitioner (FMHP) providing support to 16-25 year olds in Southwark. The Liaison and Diversion court and community contract was also retained for a further one year while the Transition to Adulthood (Y2A/T2A) service supporting young adults in Newham was extended for the financial year 2023/24. The team has significantly improved recruitment and retention of court practitioners in their roles which was a particular challenge in the previous year. A new Integrated Offender Management (IOM) contract was awarded for a pan-London service, which will be mobilised from March 2023 and the team achieved a Silver Award from the Career Matters Lived Experience Chartership.

The team have mobilised new services this year, a Women’s Mental Health Treatment Requirement (MHTR) service in partnership with Central and North West London (CNWL) NHS Foundation Trust and Oxleas NHS Foundation Trusts. That meant we could introduce a new role of Senior Assistant Psychologist, and we also now provide an FMHP to work with Probation in Hammersmith and Fulham. Staff were supported with their Personal Development Plans and at the time of writing 3 staff will be leaving to pursue a place on the Clinical Forensic Doctorate which is a huge achievement.

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As planned, the pilot RECONNECT service the team delivered to HMP Brixton and HMP Bronzefield came to an end on 30/11/22. However, from 01/12/23 we have continued to provide a CLW to HMP Bronzefield under a new subcontract arrangement with Women in Prison as part of their wider CRS contract. The team have seen challenges in a reduction in funding levels and the contract value for the new OPD service they will bid for will be significantly reduced, while the Y2A contract extension included a reduction in the funding for the Team Leader hours.

IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON TOGETHER’S WIDER NETWORKS AND THE EFFECTS ON THE CHARITY’S OPERATIONS

Through 2022/23 we have moved to a business as usual position in terms of COVID-19, we have experienced occasional outbreaks in some of our accommodation services, but they have been manageable. The DOH (Department of Health) guidelines for adult social care settings have significantly reduced throughout the year. This has aligned with CQC guidance which has moved to good practice generally within Infection control and prevention, with COVID being just a part of this, rather than the focus.

Organisationally, we have moved to exception reporting as we are now living with COVID and supporting those who access our services and work for us to adapt to life after and with COVID.

Our focus is now on the consequences and chronic residual risks that have resulted from the pandemic, which are mainly financial and within recruitment & retention. Ensuring we are in the best financial health and supporting our present and future workforce are our top priorities and as such, reflected in our strategy and work plans for the coming year.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

During 2023, we will be working on a refresh of our corporate strategy when the current one comes to an end in March 2024. There have been many successes along the way, and we are clear that our values, purpose, vision and mission still hold true. Our commitment to Service User Leadership remains as steadfast as ever, as we know that by people leading their own care and support, informing and influencing and having a voice, they will be able to live the lives they choose and determine their own futures.

The recruitment, retention and reward of our workforce will remain a top priority as we develop and implement a new pay structure and consider approaches to pay progression to reflect the skills and expertise of the people who choose to work for us.

We will continue to face the ongoing challenges of the prospect of a recession, rising inflation and interest rates and increases in cost of living for our workforce and service users, cognisant of the impact on public sector funding. The implementation of our business development and finance strategies will direct our resources, priorities, and partnerships to deliver a sustainable future for the charity.

There are a number of actions that the organisation will be taking to address the immediate and medium term consequences. These include: robust cost control through our budget forecasting for all operational and central support services, contract monitoring reviews with commissioners to negotiate the potential for uplifts on contracts to offset unforeseen additional expenditure and differentiating the risk of the impact for different types of services through strategic analysis by the Executive and Board of trustees.

The CEO and Executive Leadership Team will continue to work with other VCSE health and social care providers to advocate for the urgent need of commissioners and central government departments to review in-year funding of services. We will also look to address the future requirements of explicit inflationary uplifts on contracts and in both cases look to support providers to offset both rising costs and secure the ability to award annual pay rises for the workforce. We will do this on a national policy level, and through membership of a number of networks, including those comprising of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England and local authority officials.

As the UK’s oldest mental health charity and with our commitment to Service User Leadership, we have a strong brand and profile which we will strengthen and promote through the launch of a new website and a

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new annual lecture series in the name of our founder, Henry Hawkins. The inaugural lecture in September on Art and Mental Health is in recognition of a substantial donation by Antony Gormley. In partnership with the London Guildhall of Music and Drama, will feature keynote speakers encompassing thoughts and reflections on academic research, practice and personal experiences as well as featuring art by people using Together services and performance pieces by students of the Guildhall.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

The principle funding sources of the charity in the reporting period comes from commissioners under commercial contracts or long term agreements. Commissioners include NHS England, Integrated Commissioning Boards and Local Councils. All funding sources are allocated towards the delivery and support of mental health services in local geographical areas as specified by the contracts. In turn, these support the key objectives of the charity. Finally, Together derives minimal other income (e.g. fundraising) and when the charity receives such income, it would usually reinvest it to further enhance the provision of services or strengthen expertise.

There was a net deficit of £906k inclusive of a time-sensitive £950k provision regarding the sale of our property at Green Lane (2022 net surplus of £549k). After recognising loss on investments and actuarial loss on the defined benefit pension scheme, the net movement in funds was a deficit of £1,990k (2022 surplus of £1,458k).

On unrestricted funds, the charity made an operational surplus for the year, before losses on nonoperating items, of £85k (2021/22 gain of £565k). Adjusting for the movement on investments and properties, this produced a deficit of £52k (2021/22 gain of £610k). The movement on the pension scheme is detailed in note 16 to the accounts.

On restricted funds brought forward of £1,836k there was a deficit of £991k (2021/22 deficit £17k), resulting in a balance of £845k.

This year’s deficit on restricted funds arises from the expenditure related to income, which was accounted for in the previous years, under the charities SORP, being higher than the income on services in the year. Also there is one-off transaction of £950k in relation to Green Lane property which is expected to be reversed in 2023/24 following the anticipated sale of that site.

FUNDRAISING

Section 162a of the Charities Act 2011 requires charities to make a statement regarding fundraising activities. Although Together does not undertake widespread fundraising from the general public, the legislation defines fundraising as ‘soliciting or otherwise procuring money or other property for charitable purposes’. Such amounts receivable are presented in Together’s accounts as ‘voluntary income’ and include legacies. The day-to-day management of all income generation is delegated to the Senior Leadership Team who are accountable to the Trustees.

The majority of Together’s income is from public sector funding. Whilst Together as a whole does not have plans to engage in organisation-wide fundraising activities, our new Business Development strategy aims to introduce an element of local fundraising from our services. The charity is registered with the Fundraising Regulator, which is clearly identified on the organisation’s home page of the website. The charity adheres to the code of the Code of Fundraising Practice which sets the standard that apply to fundraising carried out by all charitable institutions and their party fundraisers in the UK. Together has received no complaints in relation to fundraising activities.

RESERVES

FINANCIAL RESERVES POLICY

Unrestricted reserves provide some protection to the Charity and its work by allowing time to adjust to changing financial circumstances. The Board of trustees, via FRIC, reviews, on an annual basis, the level of unrestricted reserves by considering the risks associated with various income streams, expenditure plans and Balance Sheet items.

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This enables an estimate to be made of the level of reserves that are sufficient:

The minimum level is estimated at 3 months of the unrestricted expenditure budget.

UNRESTRICTED RESERVES

The trustees have approved a policy for the organisation of having unrestricted reserves of between 3 and 6 months of unrestricted expenditure. Current levels are 4 months of unrestricted expenditure (2022/23: 4.4 months). Unrestricted Reserves are composed of General Reserves and Designated Reserves. Trustees are content with this level of reserves because out of £16.4m of unrestricted reserves, £5.3m are free reserves that are used to further the charities objectives.

GENERAL RESERVES (UNRESTRICTED)

At 31 March 2023, general reserves amounted to £5,316k (2021/22: £6,484k). The reduction in general reserves is due to £1.13m set aside for redevelopment works at York Road property which is owned by the Charity.

DESIGNATED FUNDS (UNRESTRICTED)

Designated funds £ 11,119k (2021/22: £10,003k) are those unrestricted funds that are annually approved by Trustees for particular purposes. The breakdown of current designated funds is outlined in note 14.

RESTRICTED FUNDS

These funds amounting to £845k (2021/22: £1,836k) can only be used for the purposes for which they were given. They represent unspent monies received from donors subject to conditions specified by them, or because the funds were collected in a public appeal to raise money for a particular purpose. Detailed analysis of the various restricted funds is set out in note 15.

The 2022/23 annual report also includes an annual liability provision relating to the sale of the Green Lane following the closure of the service, increasing the costs. This accounting transaction is a non-cash entry and is necessary to reflect the liability created from the closure. The transaction will be reversed in the 2023/24 annual report once the sale has been completed.

INVESTMENTS POWERS AND PERFORMANCE

The trustees, under the powers conferred to them by the Articles of Association, appointed Sarasin in 2019, and gave them discretionary investment powers. The investments aim to provide sufficient income for today’s beneficiaries while preserving the real capital value for future generations. As a measure of performance, the long-term return target has been set at UK inflation (CPI) +4% over a 5-year rolling basis. This performance is formally reviewed annually by FRIC and Sarasin.

The trustees’ aims in investing funds continue to be to:

Total investments at 31 March 2023 amounted to £2,195k, a decrease of £79k (2021/22: increase of £97k). For the quarter ending 30 June 2023, the value of total investments had increased by 1.1% compared to a decrease for the benchmark by (6.6%) due to weak economic data, high inflation and high interest rates compounded by ongoing war in Ukraine. Interest and dividend income in the year amounted to £101k before the deduction of investment manager’s fees (2021/22: £58k).

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SUBSIDIARY COMPANY

Together also has a wholly owned subsidiary company, Together for Mental Wellbeing Support Services Limited. This company was established on 30 March 2019. Together Support Services Limited contracts with commissioners for mental health services and then sub-contracts the execution of these agreements back to Together for Mental Wellbeing under an inter-company agreement between the two.

PENSIONS

The Together defined benefit pension scheme was closed to new accruals on 30 September 2011. The charity now offers a defined contribution pension scheme to all staff (see note 16).

Although the final salary scheme is now closed for future accruals, it remains a risk for the charity, even though it is currently showing a surplus. The result as valued by FRS 102 is included in note 16 to the accounts.

The accounts as presented reflect accounting standard FRS 102.

This pension scheme is a UK-based defined benefit scheme, providing benefits at retirement. The net present value (deficit) of the pension scheme at 31 March 2023 is (£82k) (2022: Surplus of £865k).

FINANCIAL CONTROL AND MONITORING

FRIC and ARC monitor and review all aspects of financial performance, financial management reporting, and internal financial control, including, in particular, the preparation and monitoring of revenue and capital expenditure, and quarterly managements accounts. They also deal with such other matters as may be specifically delegated to them.

FINANCIAL POSITION

The trustees consider that there are sufficient reserves held at the year-end to avoid an unacceptable level of disruption to the organisation in the event of a downturn in future income, and that there is a reasonable expectation that Together has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, the Trustees continue to adopt the going-concern basis in preparing the accounts.

TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES

The trustees are responsible for preparing the annual report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law, the trustees have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law, the trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Charitable Company and of the group and of the income and expenditure including the net income and expenditure of the group for the year.

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

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company’s transactions, and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the

31

financial position of the charitable company, 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 charitable company and of the group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

So far as each of the trustees is aware at the time the report is approved:

Dr. Carol Cole Chair of the Board of Trustees September 2023

32

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF TOGETHER FOR MENTAL WELLBEING

Opinion on the financial statements

In our opinion, the financial statements:

We have audited the financial statements of Together for Mental Wellbeing (“the Parent Charitable Company”) and its subsidiary (“the Group”) for the year ended 31 March 2023 which comprise the consolidated statement of financial activities, the consolidated and charity balance sheets, the consolidated cash flow statement and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Independence

We remain independent of the Group and the Parent Charitable Company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements.

Conclusions related to going concern

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

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

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

Other information

The Trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially

33

inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Other Companies Act 2006 reporting

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the Group and the Parent Charitable Company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatement in the Strategic report or the Trustees’ report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of Trustees

As explained more fully in the Trustees’ responsibilities statement, the Trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the Group’s and the Parent Charitable Company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to liquidate the Group or the Parent Charitable Company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists.

34

Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Extent to which the audit was capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

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

Non-compliance with laws and regulations

Based on:

We considered the significant laws and regulations to be the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102), the Charities SORP, UK tax legislation, Employment Taxes, Health and Safety and the Bribery Act 2010.

The Charitable Company is also subject to laws and regulations where the consequence of noncompliance could have a material effect on the amount or disclosures in the financial statements, for example through the imposition of fines or litigations. We identified such laws and regulations to be the health and safety legislation.

Our procedures in respect of the above included:

Fraud

We assessed the susceptibility of the financial statements to material misstatement, including fraud. Our risk assessment procedures included:

Based on our risk assessment, we considered the areas most susceptible to fraud to be improper revenue recognition and management override of controls.

35

Our procedures in respect of the above included:

We also communicated relevant identified laws and regulations and potential fraud risks to all engagement team members and remained alert to any indications of fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations throughout the audit.

Our audit procedures were designed to respond to risks of material misstatement in the financial statements, recognising that the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment by, for example, forgery, misrepresentations or through collusion. There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures performed and the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely we are to become aware of it.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located at the Financial Reporting Council’s (“FRC’s”) website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the Charitable Company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the Charitable Company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Charitable Company and the Charitable Company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Laurence Elliott (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of BDO LLP, Statutory Auditor Office Location, UK

14 November 2023

BDO LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales (with registered number OC305127).

36

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

(Incorporating Income and Expenditure Account) for the year ended 31 March 2023

Unrestricted
Notes &
Designated		 Restricted
Funds		 2023 2022
Funds
2023 2023 Total Total
£ £ £ £
Income from:
Donations and legacies 8 170,202 4,387 174,589 110,390
Charitable activities 9 19,731,634 17,069 19,748,703 18,753,579
Investments 100,647 - 100,647 57,503
Other 10,653 - 10,653 44,773
Total Income 20,013,136 21,456 20,034,592 18,966,245
Expenditure on:
Raising Funds 3 31,153 - 31,153 32,726
Charitable Activities 2 19,897,072 1,012,619 20,909,691 18,384,938
Total Expenditure 19,929,225 1,012,619 20,940,844 18,417,664
Net (Expenditure)/ Income prior to net gains
on investments 84,911 (991,163) (906,252) 548,581
Net (loss)/gain on investments 11 (136,984) - (136,984) 44,263
Net (expenditure)/Income (52,073) (991,163) (1,043,236) 592,844
Other Recognised Gains
Actuarial (loss) / gain on Defined Benefit
Pension Scheme 16 (947,000) - (947,000) 865,000
Net Movement in Funds (999,073) (991,163) (1,990,236) 1,457,844
Reconciliation of Funds
Total funds brought forward 17,352,662 1,836,362 19,189,024 17,731,180
Total funds carried forward 16,353,589 845,199 17,198,788 19,189,024

Comparatives on fund by fund basis have been restated are shown in note 21.

All income and expenditure is derived from continuing activities. The charity has no other recognised gains and losses other than the results for the above financial years.

The notes on pages 40 to 58 form part of these financial statement

37

CONSOLIDATED AND CHARITY BALANCE SHEET as at 31 March 2023

s at 31 March 2023
Notes 2023 2023 2022 2022
Group Charity Group Charity
£ £ £ £
Fixed Assets:
Tangible Assets 10 11,396,605 11,396,605 11,424,558 11,424,558
Investment in Trading Subsidiary - 100 - 100
Investments 11 2,194,833 2,194,833 2,273,335 2,273,335
13,591,438 13,591,538 13,697,893 13,697,993
Current Assets:
Debtors 12 1,306,418 954,858 1,859,679 1,382,670
Cash at Bank and in Hand 7,649,950 7,396,141 7,759,142 6,776,692
8,956,368 8,350,999 9,618,821 8,159,362
Creditors: Amount falling due within one year 13 (5,267,018) (4,855,890) (4,992,690) (3,729,074)
Net current assets 3,689,350 3,495,109 4,626,131 4,430,288
Creditors:Amount falling due after more than
one year
Net Asset excluding pension
(liability)/asset		 17,280,788 17,086,647 18,324,024 18,128,281
Defined benefit pension scheme
(liability)/asset		 16 (82,000) (82,000) 865,000 865,000
Net assets 17,198,788 17,004,647 19,189,024 18,993,281
FUNDS
Unrestricted Funds
Designated 14 11,119,348 11,119,348 10,003,310 10,003,310
General 14 5,316,241 5,122,100 6,484,352 6,288,609
Pension Reserve 16 (82,000) (82,000) 865,000 865,000
Unrestricted Income Funds 16,353,589 16,159,448 17,352,662 17,156,919
Restricted Funds 15 845,199 845,199 1,836,362 1,836,362
Total Charity Funds 17,198,788 17,004,647 19,189,024 18,993,281

The net movement in funds for the year of the parent charity was a deficit of £1,988,634 (2022: Surplus of £1,415,575)

Approved by the Board on 21 September 2023 and signed on their behalf on 21 September 2023 by:

Dr. Carol Cole (Chair) Paul Breakwell (Treasurer)

The notes on pages 40 to 58 form part of these financial statements.

Charity registration number 211091. Company registration number 463505

38

CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT for the year ended 31 March 2023

Notes
Cash flows from operating activities:
Net cash generated by operating activities
A
Cash flows from investing activities:
Dividends, interest and rents from investments
Purchase of property, plant and equipment
Purchase of investments
Proceeds from sale of investments
Change in investment cash
Net cash used in investing activities
Change in cash in the reporting period
Cash at the beginning of the reporting period
Cash at the end of the reporting period
Note A: Reconciliation of net income to net cash flow
from operating activities
Net (expenditure)/income for the reporting period (as
per the Statement of Financial Activities)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges
Loss/(Gains) on investments
Dividends, interest and rents from investments
Decrease/(Increase) in debtors
(Decrease)/Increase in creditors
Net cash generated by operating activities		 2023
2022
Group
Group
£
£
159,461
1,501,661
100,647
57,503
(310,817)
(595,068)
(159,655)
(139,296)
102,211
100,468
(1,038)
(14,210)
(268,653)
(590,603)
(109,192)
911,058
7,759,142
6,848,084
7,649,950
7,759,142
(1,043,236)
592,844
338,771
357,493
136,984
(44,263)
(100,647)
(57,503)
553,261
(344,732)
274,328
997,822
159,461
1,501,661

(i) Analysis of changes in Net funds

Cash and cash equivalents
Cash
Overdraft
Total		 At 1 April
2022
Cash flows
Other non
cash
changes
At 31
March 2023
£
£
£
£
7,759,142
(109,192)
-
7,649,950
-
-
-
-
7,759,142
(109,192)
-
7,649,950

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NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS for the year ended 31 March 2023

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

a) 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) - (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006. The financial statements are presented in Pounds Sterling rounded to the nearest pound.

b) Income

All income resources are shown net of VAT. Income is recognised once Together has entitlement to it, it is probable that income will be received and the monetary value of the income can be measured with sufficient accuracy. Income from the supply of services is recognised with the delivery of the contracted service. Income received in advance is deferred until the services have been provided. A grant that is subject to performance-related conditions received in advance of delivering the services is accounted for as a liability and shown on the balance sheet as a deferred income, Deferred income is released to income in the reporting period in which the performance-related or other conditions that limit recognition are met. Legacy income is recognised when the criteria of probability, measurement and entitlement are met.

c) Expenditure

Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and is recognised when there is a legal or constructive obligation committing Together to the expenditure. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to a particular heading in the Statement of Financial Activities they are allocated based on the % of direct cost generated by each area.

Costs associated with raising funds consists of costs incurred by Together in encouraging organisations and individuals to make voluntary contributions or to organise a fundraising event (see note 3). Charitable activities includes the costs incurred by Together in the provision of mental health services, residential homes, supported housing, advocacy services, criminal justice services, and community support (see note 2).

d) Other Employee Benefits

Termination benefits are accounted for on an accrual basis and in line with FRS 102. In line with FRS 102, an accrual has been made for holiday pay accrued but not taken at the year end.

e) Fixed Assets

Tangible fixed assets costing more than £1,000 are capitalised, included at cost and written off over their useful lives on a straight line basis.

The useful lives are estimated to be:

Depreciation of Housing Properties

Freehold land or assets under construction are not depreciated .

The charity separately identifies the major components of its housing properties and charges depreciation so as to writedown the cost of each component to its estimated residual value, on a straight line basis over the shorter of the length of the lease or the following years:

Structure 100 years
Pitched Roof 80 years
Electrical works 35 years
Windows 30 years
Flat Roofs 25 years
Kitchens, lifts, doors, boilers, heating systems & flooring 20 years
Bathrooms 15 years
Other tangible fixed assets
Fixtures and Fittings 10 years
Computer Infrastructure, Office Equipment and
Software 3 years

On adoption of FRS102 at the transition date of 1 April 2014, Together took advantage of the FRS exemption which enabled revaluation of certain properties to deemed cost.

f) Investments

Investments are included in the Balance Sheet at market value at 31 March. All gains and losses are shown in the Statement of Financial Activities.

.

g) Operating Leases

Operating lease rentals are charged to the income and expenditure account on a straight line basis over the period of the lease.

40

h) Pension Costs

Pension costs for the group personal pension scheme, a defined contribution scheme, are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities as they fall due. Together has also contributed to a defined benefit scheme, which was closed to new accruals on 30 September 2011. The assets and liabilities in the scheme are reported in these financial statements as required by FRS102.

The difference between the fair value of the assets held and the scheme’s liabilities are measured on an actuarial basis using the projected unit method. The net pension asset or liability is presented separately from other net assets on the statement of financial position. A net asset is recognised only to the extent that it is recoverable by the association through reduced contributions or through refunds from the scheme.

The current service cost and costs from settlements and curtailments are charged against operating surplus. Past service costs are recognised in the current reporting period. Interest is calculated on the net defined benefit liability. Remeasurements are reported in other comprehensive income.

i) Structure of Funds

General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes.

Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the Trustees for particular purposes. The aim and use of each designated fund is set out in notes to the financial statements.

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors which have been raised by the company for particular purposes. The cost of raising and administering such funds are charged against the specific fund. The aim and use of each restricted fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Investment income, gains and losses are allocated to the appropriate fund.

j) Consolidation

Together owns 100% of the share capital of Together for Mental Wellbeing Support Services Limited. Group accounts are prepared incorporating the subsidiary and are consolidated on line by line basis.

k) Going concern

Last year’s accounts focussed on the tail-end of the Covid-19 pandemic. Whilst this has not disappeared, instances are more sporadic and business is more as-usual than it was in the previous three years. Instead, new pressures are crystallising in the shape of high inflation and availability challenges for goods and services, cost of living pressure for staff and service users alike (including high interest rates) and the resulting expectation on employers to increase pay accordingly.

For non-staff costs, Together continue to operate a lean cost base. Nevertheless, building costs, catering provisions and utilities have increased significantly compared to 12-24 months ago. We also saw some limited availability for IT equipment, which was manageable. In response, Together put in place new centralised contracts for all services to use. These should help alleviate cost pressure experienced by our services. In the meantime, we continue to mitigate the risks through our budgetary management and forecasting procedures.

The Charity’s income is primarily generated from the supply of contracted services, which are predominantly fixed and multi-year. For 2023-24, individual contract fees have increased between 1.5% - 9% depending on the commissioner / funding authority and we thank them for the financial support provided in those challenging times. In the meantime, we continue to assess the viability of (re)tendering for new and current services through our bid management and scrutiny processes against the impact of rising costs, particularly for contracts of a longer duration where there are no guaranteed annual uplifts to income.

As at the balance sheet date, Together held cash and investments totalling £9.84m and had no loans outstanding. The directors and Trustees considered the impact of a high-inflationary environment on the future liquidity of the Group by reviewing a full 5-year income, expenditure, cash and reserves forecast under a set of assumptions considered as prudent. This forecast, combined with an assessment of the future reserves position, forms the basis of our assessment of going concern. It has been stress tested using reverse stress testing. Overall, the Trustees believe that the assumptions used are conservative and the directors have identified several mitigation opportunities as part of the 2023-24 budget process should those assumptions be adversely impacted. Finally, we have also considered whether there is any material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt over the use of that basis for a period of at least 24 months from the date of approval of the financial statements and we do not believe that this is the case.

Based on this review, the directors and Trustees have identified no material uncertainties that may cast significant doubt about the ability of the charity to continue as a going concern and therefore these accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis

l) 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.

m) Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments, including trade and other debtors and creditors and the bank loan, are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

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n) 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.

o) Foreign currency translation

The charity’s functional and presentation currency is pound sterling. There were no foreign currency transactions translated at the balance sheet date.

p) Company Information

Together for Mental Wellbeing is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales (Registration number: 463505).

The registered office is 52 Walnut Tree Walk, London, SE11 6DN.

q) Critical accounting judgements and estimates

In preparing these financial statements, management has made following judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the application of the charities accounting policies and the reported assets, liabilities, income and expenditure and the disclosures made in the financial statements.

Housing property depreciation is calculated on a component by component basis. The identification of such components is a matter of judgement and may have a material impact on the depreciation charge. Components are identified based on depreciation note (1e).

Depreciation of assets is calculated based on the cost and the estimated useful lives of the assets. The expected useful lives for housing property components is estimated based on the expected replacement frequency used for asset management purposes.

Income from the provision of services is recognised as and when the services are provided. In most cases, the services are provided in accordance with the funding agreement, but in a minority of cases, estimates are necessary as to the extent to which income may be repayable or deferred at the request of the commissioner where the services haven't been fully provided and there is a likelihood of retrospective demand from the funder that a proportion of the income to be refunded. Estimates are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

Management's estimate of the defined benefit obligation is based on a number of critical underlying assumptions such as standard rates of inflation, mortality, discount rate and anticipation of future salary increases. Variation in these assumptions may significantly impact the defined benefit obligation amount and the annual defined benefit expenses (as analysed in Note 16).

Management’s decision to continue with Going concern basis of accounting is based on contract revenue which has remained consistent and likely to remain relatively flat due to nature of contracts which are multi-year and fixed. There are increase in costs in some areas which is offset by reduction in some other areas.

2. CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES Provision of mental health services

Residential Homes
Supported Housing
Advocacy Services
Criminal Justice Services
Community Support & Day Services
Service User Involvement		 Direct
Costs
£
Support
Costs
£
2023
Total
£
6,482,514
1,327,112
6,859,626
1,908,049
457,693
2,365,742
1,494,173
358,415
1,852,588
2,242,766
537,984
2,780,750
4,823,311
1,156,991
5,980,302
97,335
23,348
120,683
16,098,148
3,861,543 19,959,691

Total direct costs includes £1,012,619 of restricted funds. This includes one-off transaction of £950,000 in relation to Green Lane site.

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2. CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES (2022) Provision of mental health services

Residential Homes
Supported Housing
Advocacy Services
Criminal Justice Services
Community Support & Day Services
Service User Involvement		 Direct
Costs
£
Support
Costs
£
2022
Total
£
5,509,787
1,118,105
6,627,892
1,766,841
358,537
2,125,378
1,390,083
282,241
1,672,324
2,140,159
434,216
2,574,375
4,353,353
883,320
5,236,673
123,174
25,122
148,296
15,283,397
3,101,541 18,384,938

Total direct costs includes £37,306 of restricted funds.

Allocation of Support Cost

The Support Costs includes the Operational Office Costs, Finance and central support, Human Resources, Governance and the Chief Executive Office. The basis of cost allocation used is the % direct cost generated by each charitable activity.

Direct
Costs		 Operational
Support		 CEO HR Finance &
Central
Support		 Governance
costs		 2023
Total
£ £ £ £ £ £
Residential
Homes 34.37% 268,620 214,532 297,482 487,397 59,081 1,327,112
Supported
Housing 11.85% 92,641 73,988 102,595 168,093 20,376 457,693
Advocacy
Services 9.28% 72,547 57,939 80,341 131,632 15,956 358,415
Criminal
Justice
Services 13.93% 108,893 86,967 120,593 197,581 23,950 537,984
Community
Support & Day
services 29.96% 234,186 187,032 259,348 424,918 51,507 1,156,991
Service User
Involvement 0.60% 4,726 3,774 5,234 8,575 1,039 23,348

781,613 624,232 865,593 1,418,196 171,909 3,861,543

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Allocation of Support Cost (2022)

Direct
Costs
Residential
Homes
36.05%
Supported
Housing
11.56%
Advocacy
Services
9.10%
Criminal Justice
Services
14.00%
Community
Support & Day
services
28.48%
Service User
Involvement
0.81%		 Operational
Support
CEO
HR
Finance &
Central
Support
Governance
costs
2022
Total
£
£
£
£
£
£
284,572
73,160
288,945
427,974
43,454
1,118,105
91,252
23,460
92,655
137,236
13,934
358,537
71,834
18,467
72,938
108,033
10,969
282,241
110,513
28,412
112,212
166,203
16,876
434,216
224,816
57,798
228,271
338,105
34,330
883,320
6,394
1,644
6,492
9,616
976
25,122
789,381
202,941
801,513
1,187,167 120,539
3,101,541

3. RAISING FUNDS

Fundraising
Publicity
Investment Management costs		 2023
2022
£
£
2,052
2,673
28,178
27,696
923
2,357
31,153
32,726

4. GOVERNANCE COSTS

Governance costs included in note 2 above are as follows:

External Audit
Trustees meeting costs
Legal & Professional services
Staff cost
Room Hire and office expenses
Trustee recruitment		 2023
2022
£
£
37,740
30,720
1,931
1,720
80,783
51,483
44,387
35,903
1,268
215
5,800
498
171,909
120,539

44

5. MOVEMENTS IN FUNDS FOR THE YEAR


This is stated after charging:
Land & building

Others
Auditors remuneration
Depreciation

. STAFF COSTS
Group and charity:
Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Pension costs
Redundancy & settlement costs
Number of employee within salary range:
£100,001-£110,000
£90,001-£100,000
£80,001-£90,000
£70,001-£80,000
£60,001-£70,000		 2023
2022
£
£
150,627
128,970
5,781
17,877
37,740
30,720
338,771
357,493
2023
2022
£
£
12,409,584
10,986,281
1,210,547
1,031,453
539,958
510,578
162,855
28,093
14,322,945
12,556,405
2023
2022
1
1
0
0
3
0
0
2
4
3

6. STAFF COSTS

The average number of employees, including part time workers, analysed by function, was:

Group and charity:
Mental health services
Management and administration of
the charity
Governance		 2023
2022
436
370
69
68
1
1
506
439

The total cost of the key management personnel - defined as the Executive Leadership Team which includes Chief Executive, Director of Operations, Director of Finance & Resources, Director of People and Organisational Development and Director of Business Development - was £507,897. (2022: £474,526)

45

7. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Four Trustees were reimbursed travelling expenses during the year amounting to £619 (2022: £367).

Nil remuneration was paid this year to any Trustee. (2022: £nil).

There are no other transactions or balances which require disclosure within the financial statements.

8. DONATIONS AND LEGACIES

Legacies
Other Subscriptions & Donations		 2023
2023
2023
2022
2022
2022
Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
Income
Income
Income
Income
£
£
£
£
£
148,333
-
148,333
23,812
-
23,812
21,869
4,387
26,256
78,520
8,058
86,578
170,201
4,387
174,589
102,332
8,058
110,390

9. CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

Local Auth, Health Auth & NHS trust
Charges for accommodation and services
Supporting People
Spot/Outreach Income
Probation Services
Project service grants		 2023
2023
2023
2022
2022
2022
Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
Income
Income
Income
Income
£
£
£
£
£
£
11,613,246
-11,613,246
11,048,905
-11,048,905
7,455,302
-
7,455,302
7,142,532
-
7,142,532
346,438
-
346,438
348,352
-
348,352
174,689
-
174,689
65,117
-
65,117
141,959
-
141,959
136,175
-
136,175
-
17,069
17,069
-
12,498
12,498
19,731,634
17,069
19,748,703
18,741,081
12,498
18,753,579

46

10. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS (GROUP)

Cost:
At 1 April 2022
Additions
Disposals
At 31 March 2023
Depreciation:
At 1 April 2022
Charge for the year
Disposals
At 31 March 2023
Net book value at 31 March 2023
Net book value at 31 March 2022		 Freehold
Furniture
Land and
And
Buildings
Equipment
Total
£
£
£
12,509,838
1,267,542
13,777,380
170,616
140,201
310,817
-
-
-
12,680,454
1,407,743
14,088,197
1,357,444
995,378
2,352,822
188,088
150,682
338,770
-
-
-
1,545,532
1,146,060
2,691,592
11,134,922
261,683
11,396,605
11,152,394
272,164
11,424,558

10. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS (CHARITY)

Cost:
At 1 April 2022
Additions
Disposals
At 31 March 2023
Depreciation:
At 1 April 2022
Charge for the year
Disposals
At 31 March 2023
Net book value at 31 March 2023
Net book value at 31 March 2022		 Freehold
Furniture
Land and
And
Buildings
Equipment
Total
£
£
£
12,509,838
1,267,542
13,777,380
170,616
140,201
310,817
-
-
-
12,680,454
1,407,743
14,088,197
1,357,444
995,378
2,352,822
188,088
150,682
338,770
-
-
-
1,545,532
1,146,060
2,691,592
11,134,922
261,683
11,396,605
11,152,394
272,164
11,424,558

47

11. INVESTMENTS (GROUP AND CHARITY)

Listed investments, at market value
At 1 April
Additions
Disposal proceeds
Net investments (losses)/gains
Total Investments
Cash holdings
At 31 March
Historical cost at 31 March		 2023
2022
£
£
2,258,637
2,175,546
159,655
139,296
(102,211)
(100,468)
(136,984)
44,263
2,179,097
2,258,637
15,736
14,698
2,194,833
2,273,335
2,176,047
2,115,758

Investments are held in the Sarasin Endowment Funds Class A INC, Sterling Investment account and Royal Dutch Shell B shares.

12. DEBTORS

Trade debtors
Prepayments and accrued income		 2023
2023
2022
2022
GROUP
CHARITY
GROUP
CHARITY
£
£
£
£
941,076
613,386
1,477,951
1,000,942
365,342
341,472
381,728
381,728
1,306,418
954,858
1,859,679
1,382,670

48

13. CREDITORS – AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

2023 2023 2022 2022
GROUP CHARITY GROUP CHARITY
£ £ £ £
Accruals 771,587 754,187 858,064 843,264
Trade creditors 545,214 275,877 763,228 757,365
Owed to trading subsidiary - 984,977 - 281,668
Other creditors 1,523,471 1,128,222 1,069,394 216,147
Taxation and Social security 288,872 288,872 240,944 240,944
Deferred Income 2,137,874 1,423,755 2,061,060 1,389,686
5,267,018 4,855,890 4,992,690 3,729,074
Deferred income reconciliation (GROUP)
Deferred income reconciliation
Opening balance as at 1 April
Add income deferred as at 31 March
Less deferred income released during the year
Closing balance as at 31 March
Deferred income reconciliation (CHARITY)
Deferred income reconciliation
Opening balance as at 1 April
Add income deferred as at 31 March
Less deferred income released during the year
Closing balance as at 31 March		 2023
2022
£
£
2,061,060
1,225,627
1,268,742
1,486,847
3,329,802
2,712,474
(1,191,928)
(651,414)
2,137,874
2,061,060
2023
2022
£
£
1,389,686
901,311
729,807
826,623
2,119,493
1,727,934
(695,738)
(338,248)
1,423,755
1,389,686

49

14a.UNRESTRICTED FUNDS – GROUP

Project Designated funds
Fixed asset reserve
Pension Potential liability
Total Designated funds
General Fund
Pension Reserve		 1 April
Income
31 March
2022
Revaluations
Transfers
Expenditure
2023
£
£
£
£ £
£
252,792
-
-
1,130,000
(7,039)
1,375,753
8,767,904
-
-
975,691
-
9,743,595
982,614
-
-
(982,614)
-
-
10,003,310
-
-
1,123,077
(7,039) 11,119,348
6,484,352
20,013,136
(136,984) (1,123,077)
6 26
(19,921,186) 5,316,241
865,000
-
(947,000)
-
-
82,000
17,352,662
20,013,136
(1,083,984)
-
(19,928,225) 16,353,589

Transfers of £1,123,077 (2022: £258,605) represents;

14a.UNRESTRICTED FUNDS – GROUP (2022)

Project Designated funds
Fixed asset reserve
Pension Potential liability
Total Designated funds
General Fund
Pension Reserve		 1 April
Income
31 March
2021
Revaluations
Transfers
Expenditure
2022
£
£
£
£ £
£
268,665
37,935
-
-
(53,808)
252,792
8,492,376
-
-
275,528
-
8,767,904
999,537
-
-
(16,923)
-
982,614
9,760,578
37,935
-
258,605
(53,808) 10,003,310
6,117,490
18,907,754
44,263 (258,605)
746 267
(18,326,550)
6,484,352
-
-
865,000
-
-
865,000
15,878,068
18,945,689
909,263
-
(18,380,358) 17,352,662

Transfers of £258,605 represent movement in NBV of Tangible fixed assets less depreciation costs held under restricted income.

14b.UNRESTRICTED FUNDS – CHARITY

Project Designated funds
Fixed asset reserve
Potential Pension liability
Total Designated funds
General Fund
Pension Reserve		 1 April
Income
31 March
2022
Revaluations
Transfers
Expenditure
2023
£
£
£
£ £
£
252,792
-
-
1,130,000
(7,039)
1,375,753
8,767,904
-
-
975,691
-
9,743,595
982,614
-
-
(982,614)
-
-
10,003,310
-
-
1,123,077
(7,039) 11,119,348
6,288,609
9,637,652
(136,984) (1,123,077)
3
6 26
(9,544,100)
5,122,100
865,000
-
(947,000)
-
-
(82,000)
17,156,919
9,637,652
(1,083,984)
-
(9,551,139) 16,159,448

Transfers of £1,123,077 (2022: £258,605) represents;

50

14b.UNRESTRICTED FUNDS – CHARITY (2022)

Project Designated funds
Fixed asset reserve
Potential Pension liability
Total Designated funds
General Fund
Pension Reserve		 1 April
Income
31 March
2021
Revaluations
Transfers
Expenditure
2022
£
£
£
£ £
£
268,665
37,935
-
-
(53,808)
252,792
8,492,376
-
-
275,528
-
8,767,904
999,537
-
-
(16,923)
-
982,614
9,760,578
37,935
-
258,605
(53,808) 10,003,310
5,980,766
8,624,202
44,263 (258,605)
3 746 267
(8,102,017)
6,288,609
-
865,000
865,000
-
-
865,000
15,741,344
8,662,137
909,263
-
(8,155,825) 17,156,919

Transfers of £258,605 represent movement in NBV of Tangible fixed assets less depreciation costs of assets held under restricted income.

Project Designated funds are specific amounts set aside at 4 projects for future repairs programmes.

Fixed Asset Reserve represents the total net book value of unrestricted assets held by the charity.

15.RESTRICTED FUNDS - GROUP and CHARITY

Green Lane Grant
Hopewell House
Snowdon
Project Services Grants:
Bromley Trust
Lankelly Chase Foundation
North Yorkshire Police
NHS Commissioning Board
CAF America - Butler Family fund
Mayor of Winchester		 Balance at
Movements
Expenditure
Balance at
1 April
in
31 March
2022
income
2023
£
£
£
£
538,655
-
(956,085)
(417,430)
659,590
-
(8,630)
650,960
475,795
-
(6,315)
469,480
41,641
21,456
(41,042)
22,055
6,244
-
-
6,244
547
-
(547)
-
22,785
-
-
22,785
82,992
-
-
82,992
1,652
-
-
1,652
6,461
-
-
6,461
1,836,362
21,456
(62,619)
1,795,199

Green Lane Grant; The Green Lane service was closed on 1st October 2022 with all service users transferring to other care providers. The site of Green Lane, for which the charity is the freeholder, was held unoccupied. Following approval from NHS England (the property was granted to the charity by way of a grant in 2007), the property will be advertised for sale on the market during 202324. Under the terms of the original grant agreement the net proceeds of the sale will be repayable to NHSE. As a result, amounts expected to be payable to NHS England has been recognised in the year as a liability with a charge to restricted expenditure. Following its sale, expected to occur in the next financial year, the difference between its current book value (£538,000) and expected net proceeds of £950,000 will be treated as a gain on disposal with amounts expected to reverse the restricted loss recognised in the current year.

Whilst these are material accounting entries that impact the annual report, all these transactions are non-cash and are meant to ensure the accounts comply with accounting standards.

Hopewell House, Snowdon properties; these funds match the contingent liability for the repayment of grants used to purchase property (see note 19).

Project Service Grants: Various donations for the provision of client services.

51

15.RESTRICTED FUNDS - GROUP and CHARITY

(2022)

15.RESTRICTED FUNDS - GROUP and CHARITY
(2022)
Green Lane Grant
Hopewell House
Snowdon
Project Services Grants:
Bromley Trust
Lankelly Chase Foundation
North Yorkshire Police
NHS Commissioning Board
CAF America - Butler Family fund
Mayor of Winchester		 Balance at
Movements
Expenditure
Balance at
1 April
in
31 March
2021
income
2022
£
£
£
£
544,740
-
(6,085)
538,655
668,220
-
(8,630)
659,590
482,110
-
(6,315)
475,795
37,361
20,556
(16,276)
41,641
6,244
-
-
6,244
547
-
-
547
22,785
-
-
22,785
82,992
-
-
82,992
1,652
-
-
1,652
6,461
-
-
6,461
1,853,112
20,556
(37,306)
1,836,362

Green lane, Hopewell House, Snowdon properties: these funds match the contingent liability for the repayment of grants used to purchase property (see note 19).

Project Services Grants: Various donations for the provision of client services.

16. PENSION SCHEME

On 1[st] October 2011, Together introduced a group personal pension scheme available to all staff. Contributions are charged to expenditure in the accounting period in which they are payable. Contributions in the period were £539,958 (2022 £510,578).

Prior to 1[st] October 2011, the organisation contributed to a UK-based defined benefit scheme, called The Together: Working for Wellbeing Pension scheme. The administration of the Scheme was transferred From First Actuarial LLP to TPT on the 9[th] February 2021. The scheme was closed to new accruals on 30[th] September 2011.

The defined benefit scheme (now closed) provides benefits at retirement based on final pensionable pay for its deferred members. The scheme is funded by the assets being held by Trustees of the scheme separately from the assets of the organisation.

The latest triannual valuation of the scheme was carried out in 2021 and showed a deficit position of (£0.8m). As a result, the charity agreed a recovery plan with four annual instalments, the first one being in 2022-23.

Projected unit method is adopted to calculate the Scheme liabilities at 31 March 2023, by rolling forward the results of the triennial actuarial valuation as at 30 September 2021.

The projected unit method results have been adjusted according to the FRS 102 financial and demographic assumptions applicable at 31 March 2023.

The liability calculations have made allowance for the payment of benefits and actual inflationary increases over the period to 31 March 2023.

52

Scheme assets and liabilities recognised in the balance sheet

The fair value of the scheme's assets, which are not intended to be realised in the short-term and may be subject to significant change, and the present value of the scheme's liabilities, which are derived from the cash flow projections over long periods and are thus inherently uncertain, were:

Equity
Bonds
Property
Cash
Other
LDI
Liquid Alternatives
Private Credit
Present value of plan assets
Present value of scheme liability
Net present value of scheme (liabilities)/assets
Amounts recognised in net income
Actuarial gains/(losses) on defined benefit obligation
Actuarial (losses) on liabilities
Actuarial return on scheme assets less interest income
Limit on recognition of assets less interest
Amounts recognised in net income
Amount credited to net income
Administration expenses
Gain on settlements
Net interest
Amount recognised in net income		 2023
Value
£000
59
1,481
922
352
1,584
4,487
665
1,076
10,626
(10,708)
(82)
2023
£000
4,018
(550)
(4,591)

-
(1,123)
2023
£000
(110)
-
26
(84)		 2023
Value
£000
59
1,481
922
352
1,584
4,487
665
1,076
10,626
(10,708)
(82)
2023
£000
4,018
(550)
(4,591)

-
(1,123)
2023
£000
(110)
-
26
(84)		 2023
Value
£000
59
1,481
922
352
1,584
4,487
665
1,076
10,626
(10,708)
(82)
2023
£000
4,018
(550)
(4,591)

-
(1,123)
2023
£000
(110)
-
26
(84)		 2022
Value
£000
1,179
6,938
1,196
187
351
3,083
1,041
3,083
15,116
(14,251)
865
2022
£000
1,186
(258)
(92)
(829)
7
2022
£000
(109)
-
-
(109)
(1,123)
2023
£000
(110)
-
26
(84)

53

Changes in present value of the defined benefit obligation are as follows:

Opening defined benefit obligations
Interest on obligations
Actuarial (gains)/losses
Settlements
Benefits paid
Closing defined benefit obligation
Changes in fair value plan assets are as follows:		 2023
2022
£000
£000
14,251
15,390
390
318
(3,468)
(928)
-
-
(465)
(529)
10,708
14,251
Opening fair value of plan assets
Interest income
Actual return on scheme assets less interest income
Contributions
Administration expenses
Benefits paid
Closing fair value of plan assets		 2023
2022
£000
£000
15,116
15,426
416
318
(4,591)
(92)
260
102
(110)
(109)
(465)
(52)
10,626
15,116

The Organisation expects to contribute £103,860 to this defined benefit pension plan in the year to 31 March 2024 to cover its administration cost.

Movements in scheme's Surplus/(deficit) in the year

Surplus at the start of the year
Contributions
Administration Expenses
Net Interest (cost) /
credit
Other movements
Actuarial gain		 2023
2022
£000
£000
865
-
260
102
(110)
(109)
26
-
(1,123)
7
0
865
(82)
865

54

The major categories of plan assets as a percentage of total plan assets are as follows:

Equity
Bonds
Property
Other
LDI
Cash
Liquid Alternatives
Private Credit
Total		 2023
2023
proportion at
£000
31-Mar-23
59
1%
1,481
14%
922
9%
1,584
15%
4,487
42%
352
3%
665
6%
1,076
10%
10,626		 2022
2022
proportion at
£000
31-Mar-22
1,179
8%
6,938
46%
1,196
8%
351
2%
3,083
20%
187
1%
1,141
8%
1,041
7%
15,116

Actuarial assumptions used

The main actuarial assumptions under FRS102 for the Scheme at 31 March 2023 used in the calculations are as per below

2023 2022
% %
Discount rate 4.87 2.78
Retail price inflation 3.20 3.61
Consumer Price inflation 2.81 3.17
Salary increase rate 3.00 3.40
Pension increase (at limited price indexation)
- LPI maximum 5% 2.75 3.05
- LPI minimum 2.5% 1.97 2.09
Deferred pension revaluation 3.00 3.10

Mortality Assumption

Mortality follows the base tables known as S3PXA with mortality improvements in line with the CMI 2021 [1.75%] model. The mortality assumption for the previous year follows the standard table known as S3PXA with mortality improvements in line with the CMI 2021 [1.75%] model.

The life expectancy used as a basis for our mortality assumption following FRS 102 recommendations is: - assuming retirement at age 60, life expectancy in years are as follows:

at 31 March at 31 March
2023 2022
For a male aged 65 now 21.5 21.7
At 65 for a male member aged 45 now 23.1 23.3
For a female aged 65 now 23.9 24.1
At 65 for a female member aged 45 now 25.4 25.6

55

17. OBLIGATIONS UNDER OPERATING LEASES (GROUP)

Total commitments over the life of operating leases are as follows:

Operating leases which expire;
Within one year
In two to five years
Over five years		 Land &
Others Land & Others
buildings
buildings
2023
2023 2022 2022
£
£ £ £
84,290
3,325
64,110
16,650
30,677
2,457
60,677
1,227
46,015 -
56,241
-
160,982
5,782
181,028
17,877

18. SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES

Together for Mental Wellbeing Support Services Limited

The wholly owned trading subsidiary was incorporated in the United Kingdom in 2019 (Registered number 11915148). Together Support Services Limited contracts with commissioners for mental health services and then sub-contracts the execution of these agreements back to Together for Mental Wellbeing under an inter-company agreement between the two. Together owns all the issued share capital of 100 ordinary shares. Summary of the trading results is shown below:

Profit and loss account
Year ended 31 March 2023
2023 2022
£ £
TURNOVER 10,571,227 10,420,276
Cost of Sales (10,359,802) (10,211,870)
GROSS PROFIT 211,424 208,406
Administrative expenses (17,284) 12,663
PROFIT ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIES
BEFORE TAXATION 194,141 195,743
TAXATION - -
PROFIT ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIES
AFTER TAXATION 194,141 195,743
PROFIT BROUGHT FORWARD 195,743 136,724
PAYMENT TO PARENT CHARITY UNDER
GIFT AID SCHEME (195,743) (136,724)
RETAINED PROFIT CARRIED FORWARD 194,141 195,743

56

The assets and liabilities of the subsidiary were

CURRENT ASSETS
Debtors
Cash at bank
CREDITORS: amount falling due within
one year
NET CURRENT ASSETS
SHARE CAPITAL & RESERVES
Share Capital
Profit & loss account
RETAINED EARNINGS		 2023
2022
£
£
1,336,537
758,677
253,809
982,450
1,590,346
1,741,127
(1,396,105)
(1,545,284)
194,241
195,843
100
100
194,141
195,743
194,241
195,843

19. CONTINGENT LIABILITY

Surrey CCG provided two properties valued at a total of £1,550,000 for the set-up of services at Hopewell House and Snowdon by way of grant agreements. These properties will be surrendered if Together ceases to use them for the purpose for which they were granted. Both these properties are included under fixed assets and restricted income.

20. ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS (GROUP)

Fixed assets
Cash at bank and in hand
Other net current liabilities
Pension asset		 General
fund
Designated
funds
Restricted
funds
Pension
reserve
Total
funds
£
£
£
£
£
2,194,833
9,743,595
703,010
-
13,591,438
6,132,008
1,375,753
142,189
-
7,649,950
(3,010,600)
-
-
-
(3,010,600)
-
-
-
(82,000) (82,000)
5,316,241
11,119,348
845,199
(82,000) 18,148,788

57

20. ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS (202 2)

Fixed assets
Cash at bank and in hand
Other net current liabilities
Pension asset		 General
fund
Designated
funds
Restricted
funds
Pension
reserve
Total
funds
£
£
£
£
£
2,273,335
9,737,236
1,674,040
-
13,684,611
7,344,028
252,792
162,322
-
7,759,142
(3,133,011)
-
-
-
(3,133,011)
-
-
-
865,000
865,000
6,484,352
9,990,028
1,836,362
865,000
19,175,742

21. COMPARATIVE CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (2022)

Income from:
Donations and legacies
Charitable activities
Investments
Other
Total Income
Expenditure on:
Raising Funds
Charitable Activities
Total Expenditure
Net Income/(Expenditure) prior to net gains on
investments
Net gains on investments
Net expenditure		 2022
Unrestricted &
Designated
Funds
2022
Restricted
Funds
2022 Total
£
£
£
102,332
8,058
110,391
18,741,081
12,498
18,753,579
57,503
-
64,433
44,773
-
18,028
18,945,689
20,556
18,966,245
32,726
-
32,726
18,347,632
37,306
18,384,938
18,380,358
37,306
18,417,664
565,331
(16,750)
548,581
44,263
-
44,263
609,594
(16,750)
592,844

58