2024-03-31-accounts

Sailors’ Children’s Society

Sailors’ Children’s Society 2023-24

Trustees Report and Financial Statements

Tel: [phone] Twitter: @SailorsChildren Web: www.sailorschildren.org.uk

Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

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Sailors’ Children’s Society

Contents

Contents	Page 2
Chairman’s report	Page 3
Trustees Annual Report (including Directors report)	Page 4
Background	Page 4
Our work in Relation to the Need	Page 4-5
Structure of the Charity	Page 5-6
Vice Presidents and Trustees	Page 6
Constitution, Risk Management, Reserves Policy	Page 7-8
Website and rebranding	Page 8
Support Provided to Families	Page 8-10
Evaluating Impact	Page 11-12
Foundation and Trust Funders and Fundraising Regulator	Page 12-13
Fundraising Events & Special Thanks	Page 13-14
The Way Forward	Page 14-16
Independent Auditors Report	Page 17-20
Statement of Financial Activities	Page 21
Balance Sheet	Page 23
Cashflow	Page 24
Notes to the accounts	Page 25-35

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

Chairman’s Report Sailors’ Children’s Society 2024

After 6 rewarding years as Chairman of the Society, my term of office concludes at the AGM on 8th August. I am delighted that Mark Thundercliffe has agreed to take on the role of Society Chairman. I wish him well. During the past 12 months Trustees have undertaken a number of initiatives to position the Society so that it is able to move forward with a strengthening financial base and a clear purpose and strategy to deliver improved benefits to our families.

Natasha Barley our CEO is rapidly increasing the number of organisations supporting the Society and has obtained sponsorship from Associated British Ports and a substantial grant from Greenwich Hospital which the society has been grateful to receive. Natasha has recruited Shelby West as our administrator, Fran Lane as our Events Manager and Mike Thompson as Partnerships Manager.

In June of 2024 the Society launched it’s new promotional video which was in part funded by the Matthew Good Foundation. The video was launched at the John Good Group headquarters in front of an audience of 67 supporters of the charity.

In order to complement and widen our fundraising the Society in partnership with the SMILE Foundation held a very successful Ladies Lunch in March 2024 with guest speaker Louise Minchin raising some £22,000 for the Society. Our guest speaker at our October Sportsman’s lunch will be Sam Warburton.

The Society has been fortunate in being able to recruit new Trustees with a wide range of skills and experience. They are already making valuable contributions. After 12 years as the Trustee responsible for Safeguarding Julie Abraham is stepping down. Our thanks to her for her good work, support and advice.

We are very fortunate to have the continued support and guidance of our four major funders: Greenwich Hospital, Royal Navy Royal Marines Charity, The Seafarers’ Charity and Trinity House London together with a growing number of other organisations and individuals. We thank them all for their valued contributions that enable us to carry out our work.

Our staff have worked tirelessly to ensure our families are well looked after and supported. My thanks to them all for their sterling work. Among projects in progress, we are looking for larger office premises in Hull, further fundraising events in partnership with other similar charities, and rolling out an enhanced Family Empowerment initiative so there is lots to leave my successor to do.

Captain Christopher Towne

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

Trustees Annual Report (including Directors report)

The Trustees (who are also directors of the Charity for the purpose of the Companies Act) present their Annual Report together with the audited financial statements of Sailors' Children's Society (the Charity) for the year ended 31 March 2024. The Trustees confirm that the Annual Report and financial statements of the Charity comply with the current statutory requirements, the requirements of the Charity's governing document and the provision of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP), applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the financial reporting standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102) (effected 1 January 2015 as amended).

Since the Charity qualifies as small, under section 383, the strategic report required of medium and large companies under The Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Director' Report) Regulations 2013 is not required.

Background

Sailors’ Children’s Society was founded in 1821 in Kingston Upon Hull. We are committed to helping disadvantaged children of seafarers throughout the United Kingdom when their family experiences a traumatic event such as family breakdown, a bereavement, or diagnoses of an illness. Whilst we recognise we cannot give them their old life back, we strive to help them adjust to their new circumstances by providing financial, emotional and practical support.

This report provides an overview of the work and achievements of Sailors’ Children’s Society over the 2023-24 fiscal year to March 31[st] 2024. Showing the breadth and depth of work undertaken to support the most disadvantaged families of seafarers in the United Kingdom.

Objectives and Aims

The objective of Sailors' Children's Society is to give each disadvantaged child of a seafarer the opportunity to fulfil their potential via the provision of financial, emotional and practical support.

Understanding the Need

Children living in poverty rarely leave their immediate community. They do not travel or take holidays and have very little access to social and personal development opportunities, therefore have little knowledge of the world beyond the streets in which they live. These children seldom get access to learning or development opportunities that support their wider education or ambition.

Our work in relation to the need

Poverty impacts on what families can spend and most of the poorest families cannot afford to cover basic essentials, let alone send their children to out of school activities or other social development activities. Children living in poverty often grow up knowing nothing but their estate and significant numbers rarely experience life beyond the deprived community in which they live. For families living in poverty, a trip to a museum for example, stretches the household budget and is therefore usually at the bottom of the list of priorities. These children do not get access to the social development and learning opportunities that children from more affluent areas of the country take for granted. As a result, they grow up with a reduced or narrow view of the world and their fit within it which contributes to apathy and lack of aspiration. Many of our families have experienced domestic abuse and are recovering from the impact that has had.

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

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Trustees Annual Report (including Directors report) continued

Our work in relation to the need - continued

The DfES report ‘Every Experience Matters’ states every experience provided for children in the world beyond the classroom has significant benefits for children’s learning, emotional wellbeing, social interactions, physical development and responses to their world. It also states that without these opportunities and experiences children are significantly disadvantaged. We address this by providing our families with the means to have a respite break in one of our eight caravans giving the families a much needed break but also for some of our children this may be the first holiday they have ever had. The memories they will make and the time for the family to come together and heal from the trauma they have faced is vital. We also fund school trips for the children on our scheme, and extracurricular activities such as swimming lessons, music lessons and so on. We pay for tutoring as and when required so that children can achieve their best, academically. When needed, computers are provided to our families to increase learning opportunities at home and tackle the issue of digital poverty. Families are provided with grants to pay for school uniforms each year and winter clothing.

Our Family Support Officers (FSO’s) provide intensive long-term support to our families by visiting regularly in person or online if the families live further away. This support helps parents to deal with their debt issues and emotional needs with the FSO’s eventually moving onto goal setting with the ultimate aim, where possible, to see the parent(s) returning to work or education. When the parent is well, out of debt and fulfilling their potential the children benefit greatly. We refer all our families with serious debt issues to get support from StepChange or SAIL.

Structure of the Charity

As of June 2024 there are now 9 posts at Sailors’ Children’s Society: CEO full time, two Family Support Officers one based in Plymouth working four days a week, who is also the Designated Safeguarding Lead, and one based in Portsmouth working three days a week, a Funding Coordinator three days per week, a Finance and Admin Coordinator four days per week and a Grants Officer/Triage Support Worker full time. We have had three new team members join us: an Administrator who supports with onboarding families to the scheme working three days a week. Our Partnerships Manager who is responsible for securing and nurturing corporate partnerships and our Events Manager who will be creating a calendar of events across the country that will raise funds for the charity. Our accountant is freelance and works two days per month.

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

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Trustees Annual Report (including Directors report) continued

The Trustees meet every two months to review the performance of the charity and review the charity’s financial position. The Sailors’ Children’s Society CEO and accountant provide reports for each meeting in conjunction with our finance subcommittee. Regarding the makeup of the board, regular discussions are held to consider its composition moving forward. Financial forecasting for the year ahead is completed annually and reviewed on a monthly basis.

Patron

HRH The Princess Royal, KG, KT, GCVO, CD, QSO

President

The Right Hon. The Earl of Halifax, KStJ, JP, DL

Vice Presidents

Maureen Lipman CBE Mary Rose Barker MBE,DL Deanne Thomas Richard B Vernon William Waddington

Freddie Drabble Gillian Atkinson Deborah Rosenberg Lady Hotham Martin Needler BEM Stephen Larard MBE, JP, DL John Warburton Scilla Smith DL Greg Medici Commander Geoffrey Noble RN

Trustees

Captain Christopher Towne - Chairman Captain Nicolas Dodd - Vice Chairman Mark Thundercliffe - Chair of FISC committee Mark MacIntyre Lee Evans Mark Campey – resigned 5[th] February 2024 Colonel David Fuller OBE MNM DL Helen Cooper Debbie Rosenberg – resigned 3[rd] August 2023 Donna Blank – resigned 13[th] July 2023 Julie Abraham Rhiannon Beeson – appointed 6[th] December 2023 Catherine Kioko-Gilligan – appointed 6[th] December 2023

Company Secretary and registered office

Natasha Barley CEO, Sailors’ Children’s Society, Francis Reckitt House, Newland, Cottingham Road, Hull, HU6 7RJ registered charity number 224505 company number 159673

Principal Advisors: Solicitors: Rollits Solicitors, Citadel House, High Street, Hull, HU1 1QE Auditors: Streets Audit LLP, Halifax House, 30 George Street, Hull, HU1 3AJ

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

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Recruitment and appointment of new Trustees

The Trustees keep the membership of the board under review and understand the need to have access to a good mix of skills. The Board of Trustees completes an annual skills audit showing that there are no gaps in the expertise of the board. There will be an ongoing focus of ensuring diversity on our board and in our team. In 2022 the society instituted a rule of each Trustee standing for terms of three years for a maximum of nine years. This resulted in several Trustees leaving the board and new Trustees being appointed.

Induction and training of new Trustees

Each new Trustee is issued with a handbook which details their duties and obligations and are closely supported by their colleagues through induction. Additional optional training for Trustees is offered. All Trustees are DBS checked and attend safeguarding training.

Constitution

Sailors’ Children’s Society is governed by an Articles and Memorandum of Association.

Risk management

The Trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error.

The Trustees have considered the major risks to which the charity is exposed and have reviewed those risks and established systems and procedures to manage them.

Reserves policy

Adequate cash and deposit balances are maintained to be able to meet normal outgoings and grant obligations.

The financial position of the charity on 31st March 2024 is considered by the Trustees to be satisfactory, with sufficient reserves to meet current commitments. The charity holds reserves for the following reasons:

• In order to ensure that the charity is able to meet unexpected and unbudgeted demands;

• In order to ensure the charity’s short-long term sustainability in a context where it must generate its own income to cover costs;

• In order to ensure continuity of service to beneficiaries in the event of an unexpected decline in charitable income;

• In order to enable the board to fund any required transformation of operating model.

The charity has a reserves policy which is reviewed on an annual basis by the Trustees. The current reserves policy adopted by the Trustees is to maintain sufficient reserves to run the charity without risk for at least 12 months, equating to £895,336 of expenditure in 2024. The charity currently holds a total of £2,236,914 in reserves, £146,232 in restricted reserves, and £706,218 in designated reserves which are a minimum designated reserve against the potential financial impact of identified, tabled and mitigated risks which could impact on the charity’s ability to deliver its objectives and commitments. The unrestricted reserves available are £1,384,464. We are actively drawing down our free reserves to reposition the charity for future sustainability and growth.

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

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Reserves policy – continued

Principal funding sources: Greenwich Hospital, Royal Navy Royal Marines Charity, Trinity House and The Seafarers’ Charity. Fundraising events, philanthropic donations, funding from trusts and foundations and legacies.

New Website

In the autumn of 2023 we launched our new website. It was funded by donations from Beerhouse Self Drive and Streets Chartered Accountants. The previous website was 18 years old and as the front facing place people go to learn about the charities work it was imperative that we had an easy to navigate site that reflects our work and helps to demonstrate our impact. The new site has been well received by our funders, families and supporters. Families can self-refer for our support through the website www.sailorschildren.org.uk

Rebranding

To coincide with the new website and modernization of the charity we rebranded as well with a new logo. Cleaner, brighter and better for use on social media we feel the logo is now in keeping with the direction of travel for the charity.

Support Provided to Families

The Society has had an active year supporting 336 families in total. On the 31/3/23 we were supporting 205 families with 378 children, and we finished the year 31/3/24 supporting 250 families with 486 children, a significant increase that reflects the promotion of the charities support coupled with the impact that the cost of living crisis is having on families. 86 families left the scheme during the year and 131 families joined our support.

-The total amount of money used to support our families with grants was £382,414.

-New families received computers to enable children to do their schoolwork at home and we provided the families access to the internet addressing the issue of digital poverty with £14,242 in support. Thanks to the Merchant Navy Welfare Board for the grant that enabled us to purchase these for merchant navy and fishing families.

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

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Support Provided to Families - continued

-All our families received grants to purchase winter clothing for their children and school uniforms totaling £64,434. The first in August (July in Scotland) to allow each child to return to school in a new school uniform, the same as their peers which increases self-esteem and confidence; and the second in winter to buy a coat and sturdy shoes. Winter clothing is extremely important especially in our varying weather climate, as the children walk or travel on public transport each day. Whilst we do not instruct our families where to shop, the grant levels remain sufficient to provide the clothing from a normal, everyday outlet - £60 school uniform grant and £65 winter clothing per child supported.

-Families receive a monthly support grant to help with the cost of food for their children as well as gas and electricity. Over the last year £226,808 worth of grants have been given to our families.

-University students receive £100 a month to help them pay for the essentials if they live away from home and £56 if they live at home.

-A legacy was used to provide children with extra support during the holidays. Grants of £10 per week per child were awarded as they would not be getting free school meals during the holidays. This amounted to £17,795 in support.

-Special grants were administered for items such as beds and wardrobes, after school lessons, club fees and school trips. This amounted to £44,520.

-We gave out 241 Christmas grants supporting 470 children amounting to £27,722 in support. Trinity House and Greenwich Hospital both very kindly supported this work with a donation of £10,000 each which helped make this possible.

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

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Respite Caravan Breaks

In addition to the grants given to families 133 families had respite caravan breaks which includes 15 families from other maritime organisations. It costs the charity £148,782 a year to maintain and run the caravans. £114,968 of running costs and depreciation of £33,814. We provided our families with £11,227 worth of travel grants to enable them to get to the caravans. Respite caravan breaks are an important way for our families to reconnect after the trauma they have experienced and for some of our families it’s the first time they have ever been on holiday together.

Family Support Officers

We have two Family Support Officers (FSOs). One in Portsmouth and one in Plymouth who work with our families to provide advice, support and guidance. When families first come onto our scheme they are in crisis. There has been a bereavement sometimes caused by suicide, diagnosis of a life limiting illness or family breakdown. These events leave the family in a terrible state and often without financial resources. When families join our scheme alongside the financial support they receive they have the option to choose to have FSO support. The FSO’s will visit the family regularly (the frequency depending on the needs of the family) and work alongside them for as long as necessary to get them back on the feet and to some sort of ‘normal’. Helping families to first deal with their debts and mental health if required is key, moving on to goal setting when possible. We signpost families to StepChange and SAIL for financial advice. The long-term goal is for a parent(s) to get back into education and then employment or straight into employment so they can look after their family without the need for our support anymore. FSO’s play a vital role in making this possible. It costs the charity £56,733 a year to provide this support which is in part funded by a generous contribution from RNRMC and Greenwich Hospital for which we are grateful.

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

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Evaluating Impact

All families receiving support from Sailors’ Children’s society are asked to complete an annual happiness survey and complete an annual review which allows us to see how the families are coping and updates us on any changes to their financial and personal circumstances.

Feedback from our families:

Hi,

I would like to say a HUGE HUGE HUUUUUGE thank you for the holiday we went on last week. The caravan was stunning, the site was amazing and the people at haven were so helpful when we had any queries.

I have enclosed a few pictures and instead of that questionnaire, we are going to write a letter just to show our gratitude because there won’t be enough space on the form to show how much we loved it. Lifetime memories were made and I just want to thank you for the chance to have made them.

Again… many many thanks, Samantha

Good afternoon Elizabeth,

The family and I wanted to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude for all that you have done for us. Your support and kindness have meant more to us than words can express, and we are truly grateful for your help. The kids had a lovely Christmas thanks to yourselves and Helen from the fishermen's mission.

Once we are back in a position to help in anyway yourselves and The fishermen's mission will be donated to as an appreciation for your good cause.

We hope you all had a Great Christmas and new year.

Kind regards Liam and Family

Hi, I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude for the incredible assistance you have provided to me and my family. Your unwavering support has been nothing short of a lifeline during a time of need, and we are truly touched by your generosity and compassion.

Your commitment to helping individuals and families in challenging circumstances has made an immeasurable difference in our lives. The assistance you have extended has not only alleviated some of our immediate concerns but has also given us hope and renewed strength to face each day with positivity and determination.

The kindness and empathy that you and your team have consistently shown us has not gone unnoticed. Your willingness to go above and beyond to ensure our well-being has truly touched our hearts. The services you provide, along with the ongoing support, have been vital in helping us navigate through our difficulties.

As a family, we understand the importance of community and the incredible impact of giving. Your organisation embodies these values, and we are inspired by the difference you make in the lives of so many. We feel truly blessed to have crossed paths with such a dedicated and caring group of individuals.

Please convey our heartfelt thanks to everyone involved, from the staff to the volunteers who work tirelessly to make your mission a reality.

Once again, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Your support has meant the world to us, and we look forward to the opportunity to give back and help others, just as you have helped us.

With sincere gratitude, Jack

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

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Evaluating Impact - continued

Dear Liz,

I appreciate the support I have received from you and support I have received from the Sailors’ Children’s Society and am grateful for the assistance provided.

I am also thankful for the ongoing support from The Royal Merchant Navy Education Foundation. Your assistance has been invaluable, and I am looking forward to continuing this journey with their support.

Wishing you all the best as well, and please convey my gratitude to the Sailors’ Children’s Society for their support over the past years.

Kind regards—Sarah (Student)

Thank you for everything from all three of us, your help and support has definitely improved the last few years for us and has set us up for a good start on our new path forward. Anonymous

Hi,

I just wanted to email and basically say thank you for all the help Sailors’ Children has provided us with especially over the last couple of months. I got diagnosed with breast cancer in June and had surgery the beginning of July so times have been really hard on us so the help you's give us has took a bit of pressure off, things have been really hard emotionally and financially. Still have a bit to go but they managed to get all the cancer out and took some lymph nodes so the past 5 weeks has been horrendous with pain and hospital appointments, have 19 sessions of radiotherapy to go starting in September so hopefully that will be me. Nicola

Foundation & Trust Funders

Principal funders

Additional funders providing grants of £1,000 to £6,000

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

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Additional funders providing grants of £1,000 to £6,000 - continued

Alan Jenkins Stokes Memorial Trust, Cruden Foundation Ltd, Gibbons Family Trust, Halifax (Lord Halifax), Homelands Charitable Trust, Hull Merchant Navy Childrens Trust, James Wise Charitable Trust, Monica Rabagliati Charitable Trust, Paul Bassham Charitable Trust, Sir James Knott Trust (Samares Investment), Sir Jeremiah Colman Trust, Sir John and Lady Amory's Charitable Trust, St Hilda Trust, Stella Symons Charitable Trust, The Aylesford Family Charitable Trust, The Chrimes Family Charitable Trust, The Connop Trust, The Elizabeth Rayner Trust, The George Gibson Charitable Trust, The Ian Askew Charitable Trust, The J H Burn Charity Trust, The Jeffrey Charitable Trust, The Joseph & Annie Cattle Trust, The JTH Charitable Trust, The Lillie C Johnson Trust, The Ogilvie Charities, The Pemberton-Barnes Trust, The Richard Cadbury Charitable Trust, The Rothley Trust, The Sir James Roll Charitable Trust, The Trades House of Glasgow, The Walter Guinness Charitable Trust, Thomas Sivewright Catto Charitable Settlement.

Our foundation and trust funders provide us with vital core funding that enables our charity to operate as well as restricted funding for specific projects. We are incredibly grateful to all the trusts and foundations that support us enabling us to carry out our work.

Fundraising Regulator

Sailors’ Children’s Society is registered with the fundraising regulator. This quality assurance mark shows that we adhere to the fundraising regulators standards and are ethical and considerate in our fundraising practice. Being a member should increase our ability to raise funds as it shows our commitment and adherence to the fundraising code.

Fundraising Events

This year we ran two major fundraising events Sportsman’s Lunch and Ladies Lunch

Income received from these events by 31[st] March 2024 was:

£ 101,726 Sportsman’s Lunch £ 26,087 Ladies Lunch – this was a joint event with SMILE who also received their own income from the event.

A huge thank you to everyone who has supported the charity by making a donation or participating in any of the events that took place. Many thanks to Williamsons, Beerhouse Self Drive, Streets, Aon and Hamers for sponsoring the Sportsman’s lunch.

Thank you to the sponsors of our first Ladies Lunch, The Seafarers’ Charity, Summit Drive and Gosschalks.

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

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Special Thanks

Sailors’ Children’s Society has a number of key relationships with local and national organisations.

A special thanks to our Patron Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal for her unwavering support of the society and for the many events she has attended over the years.

To our President the Right Honorable Earl of Halifax for 40 years of service to the charity and for his ongoing support, advise and guidance thank you sir.

Ashcourt provides us with free office space and pays for our heating and electricity, significantly reducing our overheads giving us more funding to spend on our families. A big thank you to them for providing the charity with this generous support.

To the Fisherman’s Misson, SSAFA, the Royal British Legion and all their fantastic teams who we work closely with. We couldn’t deliver our services to families without your help.

Thanks go to the Merchant Navy Welfare Board for their advice, support, guidance and funding.

A special thanks to our major donors Greenwich Hospital, Royal Navy Royal Marines charity, Trinity House London and The Seafarers’ Charity.

To those people who have kindly remembered Sailors’ Children’s Society by leaving a legacy.

To all the regional trusts and individual supporters throughout the United Kingdom.

To everyone who supports our charity. All donations no matter how small help us to make a difference in the lives of seafarer’s children in times of crisis.

The Way Forward

The Board of Trustees completed and actioned the team to deliver a three-year strategic plan to coincide with the start of the 2024/25 fiscal year. This is comprised of: a plan on a page which gives and overview of the plan, a more detailed plan outlining how our enabling objectives will be carried out and a further document outlining the KPI’s and dates for completion of them.

SAILORS’ CHILDREN’S SOCIETY – STRATEGY ON A PAGE

Strapline : Supporting seafaring families in crisis to reach a brighter future.

Mission : To provide disadvantaged seafaring families with the financial and emotional support needed to increase their well-being and life chances, ensuring that when our support comes to an end the family is self-sufficient.

Vision : To be a robust, widely recognised and well respected, national charity providing ever improving support to a growing number of disadvantaged children of seafarers.

Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

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Reach	Support	Achieve	Grow
Strategic Priorities
To be visible and readily accessible to any seafaring family in need of our support.	To provide eligible seafaring families in need with the emotional & resource support to improve their children’s wellbeing.	To assist the children we support to reach their full potential.	To grow the Sailors’ Children’s Society’s enduring capacity to support children of seafaring families.
Enabling Objectives
1. Understand centres of demand through demographic mapping.	1. Implement Empowering Families Programme.	1. Provide access to educational institutions appropriate to our beneficiaries needs, partnering with fellow charities when appropriate.	1. Increase income streams and diversify funding.
2. Raise awareness of SCS through direct and online engagement.	2. Provide families with appropriate respite opportunities.	2. Provide tutoring if required.	2. Partner with appropriate charities to maximise mutual support and synergies.
3. Increased collaboration with appropriate charities and organisations to facilitate mutual signposting.	3. Develop mental health resource signposting packs for KS1, KS2, KS3/4	3. Improve literacy through use of “Dolly Parton Imagination Library” and “Letter Box Club.”	3. Improve the visibility and detail of management information available to Trustees and CEO
4. Grow our reach in order to increase the number of eligible families supported within available resource.	4. Alongside Empowering Families and building upon FSO success, increase face to face support to beneficiaries.	4. Fund associated school costs (e.g. uniform, trips, extra curricular activity) to meet a clearly defined need or goal.	4. Modernise business processes to drive effectiveness and efficiency.
5. To review and clarify eligibility criteria for families able to access support.			5. Conduct a detailed stakeholder analysis to inform ongoing strategy development.

Strategically we are moving away from an over reliance on legacy income and are establishing more diversified income streams. We liquidated our investment portfolio because of market volatility and the loss we incurred on the investments in the previous fiscal year. We moved the funds into a high interest rate savings account where they generate income for the charity in this higher interest rate environment and no fees are incurred, this repositioning will help close the gap of costs to income. Legacy income still forms an important part of the charities income but will be used for special projects to support the families such as the £10 per child uplift during holidays to help with food costs. We are confident that this strategy is essential to both to modernise the charity, whilst increasing income and allow the charity to continue to support existing beneficiaries with a view to supporting more in the future.

As we have increased our staff level, we have outgrown our current office space and are in the process of purchasing a new office building for the charity. This will assist the Charity to grow inline with our strategic plan.

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

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We know that this year and the following years are going to be challenging for the families we support. The increases in the cost of food, gas and electric coupled with the loss of the £20 uplift to universal credit means the cost of living is going to be even more challenging for families. The impact of the covid pandemic is profound and children have suffered greatly from the changes that have happened in their lives, with mental health needs being at the forefront coupled with needing to catch up on missed education as well as social and emotional development. Our work as a charity has never been more needed or more relevant.

If you would like to learn more about our charities work please contact: Natasha Barley, CEO, [e-mail]

Statement of Trustees' responsibilities

The Trustees (who are also the directors of the Charity for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. 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 Charity and of their incoming resources and application of resources, including their income and expenditure, for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

• observe the methods and principles of the Charities SORP (FRS 102);

• make judgments and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards (FRS 102) have been followed, subject to any

• material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;

• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Charity's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Disclosure of information to auditors

Each of the persons who are Trustees at the time when this Trustees' Report is approved has confirmed that:

• so far as that Trustee is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditors are unaware, and

• that Trustee has taken all the steps that ought to have been taken as a Trustee in order to be aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charitable group's auditors are aware of that information.

Auditors

The auditors, Streets Audit LLP, have indicated their willingness to continue in office. The designated Trustees will propose a motion reappointing the auditors at a meeting of the Trustees.

Approved by order of the members of the board of Trustees on 8[th] August 2024 and signed on their behalf by:

………………………………… Captain CC W Towne -Chairman

Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

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Sailors’ Children’s Society

Independent Auditors Report to the members of Sailors' Children's Society

OPINION

We have audited the financial statements of Sailors' Children's Society (the 'charitable company') for the year ended 31 March 2024 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, the Statement of Cash Flows and the related notes, 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).

In our opinion the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company's affairs as at 31 March 2024 and of its resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure for the year then ended;

• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

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 Auditors' responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the United Kingdom, including the Financial Reporting Council's Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

CONCLUSIONS RELATING 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 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 Auditors' Report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in 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 there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. 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.

OPINION ON OTHER MATTERS PRESCRIBED BY THE COMPANIES ACT 2006

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

• the information given in the Trustees' report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

• the Trustees' report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

MATTERS ON WHICH WE ARE REQUIRED TO REPORT BY EXCEPTION

In the light of our knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in 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:

• adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

• the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

• certain disclosures of Trustees' remuneration specified by law are not made; or

• we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or

• the Trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies’ regime and take advantage of the small companies' exemptions in preparing the Trustees' report and from the requirement to prepare a Strategic report.

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 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 charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

AUDITORS' RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE AUDIT OF THE FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS

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 Auditors' 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. 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.

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:

Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:

• the engagement partner ensured that the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations;

• we identified the laws and regulations applicable to the charitable company through discussions with Trustees and other management, and from our commercial knowledge and experience of the charitable company and sector in which it operates;

• we focused on specific laws and regulations which we considered may have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the charitable company, including Charities legislation, the Companies Act 2006, taxation legislation, data protection, anti-bribery, employment, environmental and health and safety legislation;

• we assessed the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management and inspecting legal correspondence where appropriate; and

• identified laws and regulations were communicated within the audit team regularly and the team remained alert to instances of non-compliance throughout the audit.

We assessed the susceptibility of the charitable company's financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:

• making enquiries of management as to where they considered there was susceptibility to fraud, their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud; and

• considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations. To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:

• performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;

• • tested journal entries to identify unusual transactions;

• assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining the accounting estimates set

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

out in the Accounting Policies were indicative of potential bias; and

• investigated the rationale behind significant or unusual transactions.

In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:

• agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation;

• reading the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance;

• enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and claims; and

• reviewing correspondence with HMRC, relevant regulators and the charitable company's legal advisors where appropriate.

There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of noncompliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the directors and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion .

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council's website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our Auditors' Report .

USE OF OUR REPORT

This report is made solely to the charitable company's Trustees, 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 Trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an Auditors ' 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 its members, as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Robert Anderson FCA (Senior statutory auditor) For and on behalf of

Streets Audit LLP

Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors Halifax House 30 George Street Hull East Yorkshire HU1 3AJ

Date: 13[th] September 2024

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

Statement of Financial Activities Year Ended 31[st] March 2024 (incorporating Income and Expenditure Account)

	**Note **	Un-restricted	**Restricted **	Designated	Total	Total
		Funds	Funds	Funds	2024	2023
		£	£	£	£	£
Income and endowments
from:
Donations and legacies	3	94,472	354,396	-	448,868	479,512
Activities for generating	4	152,881	-	-	152,881	107,214
funds
Investments	5	40,295	-	-	40,295	47,664
Total		287,648	354,396	-	642,044	634,390
Expenditure on:	6
Raising funds
Fundraising and other costs		170,579	-	-	170,579	123,343
Investment management		13,065	-	-	13,065	16,712
costs
Charitable activities
Direct costs		241,549	379,462	42,385	663,396	612,280
Support costs		23,238	-	-	23,238	22,367
Governance costs
Direct costs		5,140	-	-	5,140	4,252
Support costs		19,918	-	-	19,918	19,171
Total resources expended		473,489	379,462	42,385	895,336	798,125
Operating		(185,841)	(25,066)	(42,385)	(253,292)	(163,735)
income/(expenditure)
Transfers		(484,510)	(20,501)	505,011	-	-
Gain/(loss) revaluation of		11,143	-	-	11,143	(143,166)
investment
Net income/(expenditure)		(659,208)	(45,567)	462,626	(242,149)	(306,901)
Other recognised gains/losses
Gain on disposal of fixed		-	11,451	-	11,451	22,487
assets
Net movementinfunds		(659,208)	(34,116)	462,626	(230,698)	(284,414)
Reconciliation of funds
Funds balances b/fwd at 1st		2,043,672	180,348	243,592	2,467,612	2,752,026
April 2023
Fund balances c/fwd at 31st		1,384,464	146,232	706,218	2,236,914	2,467,612
March 2024

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

Statement of Financial Activities year ended 31st March 2023

(incorporating Income and Expenditure account) – Previous year.

	**Note **	Un-restricted	**Restricted **	Designated	Total	Total
		Funds	Funds	Funds	2023	2022
		£	£	£	£	£
Income and endowments
from:
Donations and legacies	3	103,360	376,152	-	479,512	694,955
Activities for generating	4	107,214	-	-	107,214	124,876
funds
Investments	5	47,664	-	-	47,664	42,847
Total		258,238	376,152	-	634,390	862,678
Expenditure on:	6
Raising funds
Fundraising and other costs		123,343	-	-	123,343	129,813
Investment management		16,712	-	-	16,712	17,265
costs
Charitable activities
Direct costs		117,549	406,965	87,766	612,280	688,088
Support costs		22,367	-	-	22,367	13,678
Governance costs
Direct costs		4,252	-	-	4,252	4,200
Support costs		19,171	-	-	19,171	11,724
Total resources expended		303,394	406,965	87,766	798,125	864,768
Operating		(45,156)	(30,813)	(87,766)	(163,735)	(2,089)
income/(expenditure)
Transfers		-	27,628	(27,628)	-	-
Gain/(loss) revaluation of		(143,166)	-	-	(143,166)	85,590
investment
Net income/(expenditure)		(188,322)	(3,185)	(115,394)	(306,901)	83,501
Other recognised
gains/losses
Gain on disposal of fixed		-	22,487	-	22,487	42,796
assets
Net movementinfunds		(188,322)	19,302	(115,394)	(284,414)	126,297
Reconciliation of funds
Funds balances b/fwd at 1st		2,231,994	161,046	358,986	2,752,026	2,625,729
April 2022
Funds balances b/fwd at		2,043,672	180,348	243,592	2,467,612	2,752,026
31st March 2023

Page | 22 Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

Balance Sheet Year Ended 31[st] March 2024

			2024				2023
	Note	£		£		£		£
Fixed assets
Tangible assets	11				158,943			195,118
Investments	12				40,184			2,219,653
					199,127			2,414,771
Current assets
Debtors	13		72,972				88,909
Current asset investments			1,626,116				-
Cash at bank and in hand			385,852				10,362
			2,084,940				99,271
Creditors: amounts falling
duewithin one year
Creditors	14		47,153				46,430
Net current assets					2,037,787			52,841
Net assets					2,236,914			2,467,612
Funds of the charity
Restricted funds	17				146,232			180,348
Unrestricted funds	18				1,384,464			2,043,672
Designated funds	18				706,218			243,592
					2,236,914			2,467,612

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

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to entities subject to the small companies regime.

The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Trustees on 8[th] August 2024 and signed on their behalf by:

…………………………………

Captain CC W Towne -Chairman

The annexed notes form part of the financial statements

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

Cash Flow Year Ended 31[st] March 2023

	2024	2024	2023	Note
	£		£
Cash flows from operating activities:	(199,495)		(148,797) Table A
Cashflows from investing activities:
Dividends from investments		40,295	47,664
Proceeds from the sale of property, plant & equipment		11,751	28,483
Proceeds from disposal of investments	2,177,742		60,000
Purchase of property, plant and equipment		(5,276)	(107,800)
Net cash provided by/(used in) investing activities	2,224,512		28,347
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting	2,025,017		(120,450)
period
Cash and cash equivalents at the start of the reporting	(13,049)		107,401	Table B
period
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting period	2,011,968		(13,049)
Table A: Reconciliation of net income/(expenditure) to net	cash	flow from operating activities
		2024	2023
		£	£
Net income/(expenditure) for the reporting		(230,698)	(284,414)
period (as per the statement of financial
activities)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges		41,151		53,194
Profit on sale of fixed assets		(11,451)		(22,487)
(Gains)/losses on investments		1,727		159,792
Dividends,interest and rents from investments		(40,295)	(47,664)
lncrease/(decrease) in debtors		15,938		75,832
lncrease/(decrease) in creditors		24,133	(83,050)
Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities		(199,495)	(148,797)
Table B: Analysis of net debt, cash and cash equivalents
		2024	2023
	£		£
Cash in hand		385,852	10,362
Current asset investments		1,626,116	-
Overdraft facility repayable on demand		-	(23,411)
Total cash and cash equivalents		2,011,968	(13,049)

Page | 24 Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

Notes to the Financial Statements Year Ended 31[st] March 2024

1).Accounting Policies

a). General information and basis of preparation

The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. 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) issued on 16 July 2014 (as updated), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006 and UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice. The financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis under the historical cost convention, modified to include certain items at fair value. The financial statements are presented in sterling which is the functional currency of the charity and rounded to the nearest £. The significant accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below . These policies have been consistently applied to all years presented unless otherwise stated.

b). Funds

Unrestricted funds 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 the notes to the financial statements. Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the charity 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.

c). Income

All incoming resources are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when the charity is legally entitled to the income after any performance conditions have been met, the amount can be measured reliably and it is probable that the income will be received. Cash donations and gifts are included in full in the financial statements as they are received. Significant non-cash donations are included in the financial statements at the Trustee’s estimate of their market value when received. No amount is included in the financial statements for volunteer time in line with the SORP (FRS 102). For legacies, entitlement is the earlier of the charity being notified of an impending distribution or the legacy being received. At this point income is recognised. On occasion legacies will be notified to the charity however it is not possible to measure the amount expected to be distributed. On these occasions, the legacy is treated as a contingent asset and disclosed. Investment income is earned through holding assets for investment purposes such as shares. It includes dividends and interest. Where it is not practicable to identify investment management costs incurred within a scheme with reasonable accuracy the investment income is reported net of these costs. It is included when the amount can be measured reliably. Interest income is recognised using the effective interest method and dividend income is recognised as the charity’s right to receive payment is established.

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

Notes to the Financial Statements Year Ended 31[st] March 2024

d). Expenditure

This is accounted for on an accruals basis but when expenditure is incurred relating to more than one cost category, the expenditure is apportioned over all relevant headings fundraising, relief to seafarers families and governance. The basis of apportionment used reflects the time and resources expended under specific headings.

I). Relief to seafarers families

Relief to seafarers' families includes the total cost of financial support given to families on the support scheme register, clothing and special grants, the costs of eight static caravans, financial support to families to use the caravans as a holiday base and support costs for all the aforementioned facilities.

Ii). Administration

Administration includes the cost of essential central administration principally concerning the overall management of the Society's affairs, salary administration, insurance, money managements and office equipment depreciation.

e). Depreciation

Depreciation is calculated on the straight line basis to write down the cost of all fixed assets (see note 11) over their expected useful lives at 20% less estimated residual value.

f). Operating leases

Rentals payable under operating leases are charged to the statement of financial activities over the period of the lease on a straight line basis.

g). Grants and specific donations

Grants in respect of capital expenditure are credited to the statement of financial activities upon receipt. If the grant is unrestricted a designated fund representing the assets written down value is created . This fund is then reduced over the useful economic life of the asset in line with its depreciation. Grants of a revenue nature which are made to give immediate financial support or to reimburse costs previously incurred are credited to the statement of financial activities in the period in which they become receivable. Grants of a revenue nature which are made to finance general activities over a specific period or to compensate for a loss of current or future income are credited to the statement of financial activities when receivable.

h). Investment

The investment funds are included in the balance sheet at their mid-market value at the year end. The variances between market value and the original cost or annual revaluation of the investment funds are shown as unrealised investment gains or losses in other charitable funds. The differences between the original cost or annual valuation and the proceeds of investments disposed of are shown as a gain/(loss) in the statement of financial activities. Short term investments held by the charity as cash or other easily transferable assets are recognised as current asset investments.

• i). Fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are initially recognised at cost. After recognition, under the cost model fixed assets are measured at cost less accumulated depreciated and any accumulated impairment losses. A de minimis and costs are capitalised when future economic benefits are probable and the cost or value of the asset can be measured reliably.

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

Notes to the Financial Statements Year Ended 31[st] March 2024

j). Pension costs

Contributions to provide pensions and related benefits are charged to the income and expenditure accounts as incurred. The Charity operates a defined contributions pension scheme.

k). Going concern

After making reasonable enquiries, the directors have a reasonable expectation that the charitable company has adequate resources to continue in operations existence for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.

l). Preparation of group financial statements

The charity/charitable company has taken advantage of the option not to prepare consolidated financial statements contained in Section 398 of the Companies Act 2006 on the basis that the charity/charitable company and its subsidiary undertaking, Newland Facilities Management Limited (dormant), comprise a small group.

m). Recognition basis of creditors

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 reliabl y. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

n). Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

2).Taxation

Sailors' Children's Society is a UK registered charity, number 224505. All the Society's income is applied to its charitable objects and the Society is, therefore, exempt under current legislation from most forms of taxation. Value Added Tax is not recoverable by the Society and is therefore charged to the statement of financial activities or balance sheet as incurred.

3). Donations and	Un-restricted	Restricted	2024	Un-restricted	Restricted	2023
legacies	£	£	£	£	£	£
	-			-
Seafarers UK		69,716	69,716		70,000	70,000
Trinity House	-	78,200	78,200	-	78,200	78,200
Royal Navy Royal	-	165,000	165,000	-	165,000	165,000
Marines Charity
Merchant Navy	-	3,930	3,930	-	5,796	5,796
Welfare Board
Fishermen's Mission	-	-	-	-	-	-
200 Business Club	-	8,750	8,750	-	15,997	15,997
John Landsdown	-	-	-	30,000	-	30,000
Covenants,	58,023	19,800	86,823	63,088	41,160	104,247
donations and trusts
Legacies	36,449	-	36,449	10,272	-	10,272
Total	94,472	354,396	448,868	103,360	376,152	479,512

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Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

Notes to the Financial Statements Year Ended 31[st] March 2024

4). Charitable	Unrestricted	Unrestricted	Unrestricted	Restricted		2024		2023
activities			£	£		£	(All	Unrestricted)
								£
Fundraising:
Special events		140,248				140,248		103,089
Continuous activities		12,633			-	12,633		4,125
Total		152,881			-	152,881		107,214
	Unrestricted			Restricted		2024		2023
5). Investments			£	£		£		£
Dividends received		22,070			-	22,070		47,664
Interest received		18,225			-	18,225		-
Total		40,295			-	40,295		47,664
6a). Total resources expended Costs directly allocated to		Basis of allocation	Fundraising		Relief to Seafarers Families	Governance	2024 £	2023 £
activities
Monthly grants to families		Direct		-	226,808	-	226,808	209,313
Clothing grants		Direct		-	64,434	-	64,434	54,880
Christmas grants		Direct			-	-	-	-
				-		-
Special grants		Direct			76,930		76,930	69,071
Home computers		Direct		-	14,242	-	14,242	13,952
Family holiday scheme
Holiday grants		Direct		-	10,374	-	10,374	12,000
Caravan running costs		Direct		-	114,968	-	114,968	114,441
Salaries and redundancy		Direct		58,958	140,032	-	198,990	172,834
Administration and event		Direct		88,382	15,608	5,140	109,130	71,016
costs
Sub total				147,340	663,396	5,140	815,876	717,508
Support costs allocated to
activities
Basis of allocation				35%	35%	30%
General office and finance		Staff		23,239	23,238	19,918	66,395	63,905
		time
Total				23,239	23,238	19,918	66,395	63,905
Investment management							13,065	16,712
fees
							895,336	798,125

Page | 28 Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

Notes to the Financial Statements Year Ended 31[st] March 2024

6b).Staff costs

The average number of persons employed by the Charity during the period was as follows:

	2024	2023
	Number	Number
Fundraising	1	1.4
Relief for seafarers' families	3.6	3.0
Administration	2	0.4
Total	6.6	4.8
Actual average monthly number of staff	7.0	5.0

The aggregate payroll costs in respect of these employees were as follows:

	2024	2023
Wages and Salaries	213,106	172,984
Social security	11,524	11,419
Pension costs	6,942	8,463
Total	231,572	192,866

The number of employees paid over £60,000 during the year (salary plus taxable benefits excluding the employer pensions contributions and redundancy payments) was:

2024 2023

Band £70,000 - £80,000 1 -

The aggregate for key management personnel salary and pension and employer NIC contributions was £77,323 (2023 £61,500).

The charity runs a defined contribution pension scheme for the benefit of its employees. Total pension costs for the year were £6,942 (2023: £8,463). Total contributions due to the scheme as at 31 March 2024 were £4,074 (2023: £1,418).

7). Trustees' remuneration

The Trustees were not entitled to receive any remuneration. Travel expenses reimbursed from the charity during the year were £685 which was paid to 2 Trustees (2023: nil).

Donations from Trustees during the year total £3,800 (2023: nil).

Page | 29 Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

Notes to the Financial Statements Year Ended 31[st] March 2024

8).Operating lease rentals

		2024			2023
		£			£
Plant and equipment		2,165			2,165
9). Net incoming resources for the year
This	is stated after charging:
		2024			2023
Auditors' remuneration:		£			£
Audit		5,140			3,500
Advice
Depreciation		41,147			53,194
10).	Interest payable and similar charges
		2024		2023
Bank Overdraft		1,035			473
**11). **	Tangible assets
		Caravans	Fixtures	Total
			&
			Fittings
		£	£	£
	Cost
	At 1st April 2023	401,671	53,655	455,326
	Additions	-	5,276		5,276
	Disposals	(42,557)	-	(42,557)
	At 31st March 2024	359,114	58,931	418,045
	Depreciation
	At 1st April 2023	221,323	38,885	260,208
	Provided during the year	33,814	7,337		41,151
	Disposals	(42,257)	-	(42,257)
	At 31st March 2024	212,880	46,222	259,102
	Net book value
	At 31st March 2023	180,348	14,770	195,118
	At 31st March 2024	146,234	12,709	158,943

Page | 30 Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

Notes to the Financial Statements Year Ended 31[st] March 2024

11). Tangible assets (continued)

The net book value at 31st March 2024 represents fixed assets used for:

	Caravans	Fixtures& Fittings	Total
Direct Charitable Services
Family Holiday Scheme	146,234	-	146,234
Other Purposes
Administration	-	12,709	12,709

The Society owns the freehold of St Nicholas Primary School and Stratten Hall, currently under a 99 year peppercorn rent lease to Hull City Council signed 10th October 2006. No balance is recognised in these accounts due to the length of the lease remaining.

12). Investments

2). Investments
	2024
	£
Market value at 1stApril 2023	2,219,653
Additions	-
Disposals	(2,177,742)
Increase/(decrease) in value for the year	(1,727)
Market value at 31st March 2024	40,184

All the investments are listed investments and can be split as follows:

	2024
	£
UK fixed interest	-
Alternative investments	19,393
Over seas index linked	-
UK equities	-
Other equities	-
Cash	20,791
Total	40,184
During the year the trustees continued to transfer the investments into
lower risk cash deposits.
13). Debtors
	2024		2023
	£	£
Amounts falling due within one year
Other debtors	3,593		14,585
Prepayments and accrued income	69,379		74,325
Legacies	-		-
Total debtors	72,972		88,909

Page | 31 Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

Notes to the Financial Statements Year Ended 31[st] March 2024

14). Creditors	2024			2023
	£		£
Bank overdraft		-		23,411
Trade creditors		24,539		6,280
Accruals and deferred income		13,317		10,933
Tax and social security		5,223		4,388
Other creditors		4,074		1,418
Total creditors		47,153		46,430

15). Operating lease commitments

The total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases are as follows:

	2024		2023
	£		£
Not later than 1 year		2,165		2,165
Later than 1 year and not later than 5 years		2,165		4,330
16). Charitable commitments
		2024	2023
		£	£
Grants to families		382,414		347,217
Family holiday scheme		125,342		126,441

17). Restricted Funds

The income funds of the charity include restricted funds comprising the following unexpended balances of donations and grants held to be applied for specific purposes:

Seafarers UK

Restricted funding from Seafarers UK was received towards the cost of employing staff for fundraising activities within the charity.

Trinity House London

Restricted funding from Trinity House London was received during the year to provide individual grants and support for Fishing and Merchant Navy families.

Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity

Restricted funding from Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity was received as part of a 3 year grant to provide individual grants to Royal Navy and Royal Marines families and towards the cost of employing our Family Support Officers.

Page | 32 Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

Notes to the Financial Statements Year Ended 31[st] March 2024

17). Restricted Funds (continued)

	Balance at 31st March	Incoming resources	Resources expended	Disposal on Fixed Assets	Transfers from Designated Funds	Balance at 31st March
	2023					2024
	£	£	£	£	£	£
Seafarers UK	-	69,716	(69,716)	-	-	-
Trinity House London	-	78,200	(78,200)	-	-	-
Greenwich Hospital	-	10,000	(10,000)
Royal Navy Royal	-	165,000	(165,000)	-	-	-
Marines Charity
Donations	-	18,800	(18,800)	-	-	-
Merchant Navy Welfare	-	3,930	(3,930)	-	-	-
Board
Caravan Appeal & 200	180,348	8,750	(33,816)	11,451	(20,501)	146,232
Business Club
Total	180,348	354,396	(379,462)	11,451	(20,501)	146,232
	Balance at 31st March	Incoming resources	Resources expended	Disposal on Fixed	Transfers from	Balance at 31st March
	2022			Assets	Designated	2023
					Funds
	£	£	£	£	£	£
Seafarers UK	-	70,000	(70,000)	-	-	-
Trinity House London	-	78,200	(78,200)	-	-	-
Royal Navy Royal Marines	-	165,000	(165,000)	-	-	-
Charity
Donations	-	41,160	(41,160)	-	-	-
Merchant Navy Welfare	-	5,796	(5,796)	-	-	-
Board
Caravan Appeal & 200	161,046	15,997	(46,810)	22,487	27,628	180,348
Business Club
Total	161,046	376,152	(406,966)	22,487	27,628	180,348

Restricted funds are held in the main against the purchase of caravans and released in line with depreciation charge. Operating restricted funds from donations and 190 PC Appeal are used against grants costs for the families in specific geographical areas and for home computers. The 200 Business Club was launched in November 2017 to raise funds to replace part of the existing fleet of caravans from when the Society celebrates its 200th anniversary in 2021. These funds are then released in line with the depreciation charge.

Page | 33 Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

Notes to the Financial Statements Year Ended 31[st] March 2024

18). Unrestricted Funds Balance at 31st	18). Unrestricted Funds Balance at 31st	Income	Expenditure	Revaluation of	Transfer	Balance at 31st
	March			investment		March
	2023	£	£		£	2024
Accumulated fund:	2,043,672	287,647	(473,489)	11,144	(484,510)	1,384,464
general
designated	243,592	-	(42,385)	-	505,011	706,218
Total	2,287,264	**287,647 **	(515,874)	11,144	20,501	2,090,682
	Balance	Income	Expenditure	Revaluation	Transfer	Balance at
	at 31st	£	£	of	£	31st
				investment
	March					March
	2022					2023
Accumulated	2,231,994	258,238	(446,560)	(143,166)	-	2,043,672
fund: general
designated	358,986	-	(87,766)	-	(27,628)	243,592
Total	2,590,980	258,238	(534,325)	(143,166)	(27,628)	2,287,264

The Trustees previously designated £510,000 of funds to provide for additional support to families dur school holidays and for students living away from home along with replacement computers system equipment at the Society. There is a further element to provide for the short fall in funding for replac of respite caravans. £221,708 from this designation fund still remains.

During the current financial year it was decided that a Risk Based designated reserve was held. This fu been calculated at £484,510

19). Analysis of net assets	between funds
Funds balances at 31st March	Unrestricted Funds	Restricted Funds	Designated Funds	Total Funds
2024 are represented by:	£	£	£	£
Tangible fixed	12,711	146,232	-	158,943
assets
Investments	-	-	40,184	40,184
Current assets	1,418,906	-	666,034	2,084,940
Creditors due within one year	(47,153)	-	-	(47,153)
Total	1,384,464	146,232	706,218	2,236,914
Funds balances at 31st March	Unrestricted Funds	Restricted Funds	Designated Funds	Total Funds
2023 are represented by:	£	£	£	£
Tangible fixed	14,770	180,348	-	195,118
assets
Investments	1,969,653	-	250,000	2,219,653
Current assets	105,679	-	(6,408)	99,271
Creditors due within one year	(46,430)	-	-	(46,430)
Total	2,043,672	180,348	243,592	2,467,612

Page | 34 Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673

Sailors’ Children’s Society

Notes to the Financial Statements Year Ended 31[st] March 2024

20). Called up share capital

There is no called up share capital as the Company is limited by Guarantee. In the event of the Company being wound up each Director has undertaken to contribute to the assets of the Society such amount as may be required to discharge its debts, the amount not to exceed £1 per Director.

21). Related party transaction

During the year there were the following related party transactions (2023-nil). In addition to the transactions with Trustees as disclosed in Note 7.

Lee Evans (a Director) is employed by IT @ Spectrum Ltd, during the year they provided printing of the annual report and raffle envelopes for free.

IT @ Spectrum Ltd £695 – Sportsman’s Lunch – Table IT @ Spectrum Ltd £245 – Donation

Mark Campey (a director for part of the year) is a director of Minstergate Holdings Ltd & Minstergate Retail Ltd. During the year the companies made the following Donations:

Minstergate Holdings Ltd £6,000 – Sportsman Lunch – Sponsorship Minstergate Retail Ltd £6,600 – Sportsman Lunch – Auction Minstergate Retail Ltd £2,000 – Website Donation

Page | 35 Charity Number: 224505 A company limited by guarantee registered no. 159673