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2022-03-31-accounts

Annual Review

for the year ended 31 March 2022

Company Number: 1507277 Charity Number (England and Wales): 280852 Charity Number (Scotland): SCO39338

The Fostering Network Annual Review 2021-22

CONTENTS

Message from our Chair 3
Trustees’ report 4
Vision, mission, values 4
What we achieved 5
Our plans 14
Financial review 15
Risk management 17
Independent auditor’s report 20
Statement of financial activities 25
Balance sheet 26
Statement of cash flow 27
Financial notes 28
Trustees Management and advisors 44

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The Fostering Network Annual Review 2021-22

Message from our Chair

As the chair of the board of trustees, I am delighted to introduce The Fostering Network’s 2021-2022 annual report.

The year just past has been eventful to say the least. We all continued to navigate fluctuating Covid-19 restrictions for much of the year, with events and activities either limited or changing suddenly according to current conditions. We saw the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England take place, to which we contributed with and on behalf of our members. And we undertook our State of the Nation’s Foster Care 2021 survey - the largest and most comprehensive survey of the UK's fostering sector – which we expanded to include fostering services for the first time this year.

In the following report, you will see how the organisation has continued to deliver the diverse range of highquality activities it is known for, while still providing effective support and guidance for both foster carer and services members. We have seen further expansion of our successful Mockingbird programme, ensuring that more families can benefit from this model of support. New projects have also been developed, including Fostering Digital Skills training for foster carers to help them support young people in becoming independent digital citizens, and the Start Talking project which aims to help foster carers support children and young people in their relationships and sex education.

We also continued to celebrate the fostering community and all it does to help children and young people fulfil their potential through our annual Fostering Excellence Awards, Foster Care Fortnight[TM] and Sons and Daughters Month. These opportunities to come together and highlight the value of foster care continue to attract and engage a wide range of audiences, some who may be completely new to fostering, and help us in our aims to educate people about the role of foster care in society.

Finally, it would be remiss not to thank all those people and organisations who support the work of The Fostering Network, from our partners and sponsors to individuals who have raised money or taken part in our activities across the year. Alongside our staff, they ensure our work continues to support our members and contributes to making foster care the best it can be. I hope you will look forward to another year of working together to improve foster care and ensuring children and young people have the care and support they need to thrive.

Mervyn Erskine

Chair of trustees

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The Fostering Network Annual Review 2021-22

Trustees’ annual report (including strategic report)

About us

The Fostering Network is the UK’s leading fostering charity. We are the essential network for fostering, bringing together everyone who is involved in foster care. We support foster carers to help transform children’s lives and we work with fostering services and the wider sector to develop and share best practice.

We work to ensure all children and young people in foster care experience stable family life, and we are passionate about the difference foster care makes. We champion fostering and seek to create vital change so that foster care is the very best it can be.

Vision

Our vision is a society where the importance of fostering is understood, recognised, and supported.

Mission

Our mission is to support those who foster, improve opportunities for children and young people in foster care, and provide expert guidance to all fostering services.

Values

We are trusted – expert and independent. We are together – a network, working in partnership, for community, for members. We are vital:

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What we achieved – some highlights

The Fostering Network brings together everyone involved in the lives of fostered children to make foster care the very best it can be. In the 12 months to 31 March 2022, working with our members and other stakeholders we took significant steps towards meeting our four strategic objectives. Here are some of the highlights from the year.

Objective: Provide opportunities for children and young people that benefit them, make their voices heard and enable them to reach their potential

We worked with children and young people around the UK (United Kingdom) throughout the year.

In Scotland, the Young Advocates group was active in a variety of The Fostering Network’s activities. The launch of the Young Advocates education training resource included a webinar which was attended by 90 people and hosted by the young advocates themselves (a group of five aged 17 to 24). The resource is hosted on the Children in Scotland LMS (Learning Management System) platform.

The Young Advocates also contributed to Tick the Box 2021 – our campaign to inform young people about the support available to them during their time at university and how to access it. Members of the group contributed to a review of content in The Skills to Foster training, got involved in Sons and Daughters Month 2021 and spoke at conferences to promote the education resources and highlight the importance of removing stigma for care experienced young people in education.

The Fostering Network in Scotland secured funding through The Promise to develop a Young Person’s Advisory Board, and we recruited an implementation manager to ensure we are aligned with the Promise and centre the voice of the child in everything we do.

In Scotland we started the Moving On project, with two young people on the steering group. The focus of this project is transitions through foster care and as part of this work, we hosted two sessions with Independent Living Fund providers, enabling young people with care experience to access funds on an annual basis from ages 16 to 25, empowering them to gain skills for independence.

In Northern Ireland, we continued to provide our commissioned service, Fostering Attainment and Achievement, to children and young people to support their education and learning. Despite ongoing Covid19 related restrictions, this service made direct provision to more than 1,000 children and young people and provided support to foster and kinship foster carers as primary educators. This included online support, webinars and a major conference with experts Louise Bomber and Kim Golding attended by 350 delegates. We adapted to the restrictions by developing ‘Wild about learning’, based on forest schools, to great success.

Our award-winning edge of care service, Step Up Step Down, has continued to provide families on the edge of care with wrap around, trauma-centred services which ensured that children and families were kept together during the pandemic despite the huge challenges.

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The Fostering Network Annual Review 2021-22

Objective: Promote foster care to ensure society understands, values and recognises how foster carers transform children’s lives

Our annual campaign to celebrate fostering, Foster Care Fortnight[TM] , took place from 9-22 May and was based around the theme of Fostering Communities. The campaign theme and activities were informed by an external steering group of The Fostering Network members and a staff working group, with the key aims of raising awareness of foster care and providing services members with support for their foster carer recruitment and retention targets. The campaign on social media brought over 200 new followers to our channels, and the hashtag was seen over 800,000 times, with over 1,200 mentions.

In Northern Ireland, foster carers came together for a Foster Care Fortnight launch event online which was attended by more than 100 people and featured contributions from the Minister for Health, foster and kinship foster carers. Two foster carers from Northern Ireland, who both grew up in foster care, appeared on BBC Northern Ireland online talking about how their experiences in care inspired them to become foster carers themselves. The piece attracted more than 200,000 views. In England, our membership engagement team ran a series of webinars during Foster Care Fortnight all about fostering to engage with existing members and to encourage people interested in fostering to find out more.

Across the year, we achieved around 1,200 pieces of media coverage, with a combined potential reach of 162 million. Highlights included: an exclusive in The Observer in December featuring our State of the Nation’s Foster Care 2021 report; Vicki Swain, head of campaigns and policy, appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Money Box Live in February and various pieces of regional coverage around the Fostering Excellence Awards and Foster Care Fortnight. All served to highlight the diversity of the foster care community, the challenges and rewards foster care brings and how vital it is in helping transform children’s lives.

In addition to this, on social media, we have continued to grow our audiences and see engagement with a range of content across all our communications campaigns, in particular our State of the Nation report launches, Fostering Excellence Awards and Foster Care Fortnight.

The Fostering Network’s advice teams dealt with 108 enquiries from prospective foster carers. In handling these enquiries professionally, and with enthusiasm for fostering, we have demonstrated our commitment to promoting foster care and how it can transform children’s lives. That people come to us with these enquiries demonstrates that we are seen as leaders in the sector, which means we are well-placed to help society understand, recognise and value foster care.

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The Fostering Network Annual Review 2021-22

Objective: We will influence policy and the legislative framework, so it supports and promotes excellence in foster care

Campaigning and influencing policy at every level to ensure foster care is the best it can be for all involved is a key area for the organisation and in 2021-22 we brought foster carer voices to the fore through a range of high profile activities. Around the UK, we regularly meet with ministers and Government departments to share our member’s views, and contribute to consultations on the issues that matter to them

In January 2021, the Secretary of State for Education announced an Independent Review of Children's Social Care in England. The Fostering Network launched a programme of work to influence the review and ensure that it delivered for foster care. We responded to the Call for Ideas, the Case for Change and Call for Evidence.

As part of this programme, we ran engagement events with 82 foster carers, 37 fostering service staff members, researchers and health professionals and 18 key national representatives of care experienced children, young people and foster carers, researchers and policy makers. Our submissions also included responses from over 7,000 foster carers who shared their views with us in the 2018 and 2021 State of the Nation's Foster Care surveys.

We launched our State of the Nation 2021 survey of foster carers and fostering services in May 2021. We received responses from 3,352 foster carers and 99 fostering services representing around six per cent of all fostering households and 19 per cent of services.

We published our main report in December 2021, Spotlight on Wales Report in March 2022 and Status Report in February 2022. The reports received widespread coverage including The Observer and Sky News. Our launch event in England included over 300 attendees. The panel included Josh McAlister, chair of the independent review of children’s social care in England and was Chaired by David Simmonds MP. We co-presented the findings with a young person with care experience, foster carer and fostering service.

At our Scotland launch event, the panel included Jackie Brock from The Promise and a film from Clare Haughey MSP, the Minister for Children and Young People in Scotland. The event was also co-presented with a care experienced young person, foster carer and fostering service. It was attended by over 90 foster carers, services staff, and other key stakeholders.

With have continued to meet with and present the findings to several key stakeholders including:

Turning to foster carer allowances, The Fostering Network conducted a survey of local authorities and in England, and we found that for 2021-22 there were twenty-two local authorities not paying the recommended level in at least one age category in 2021-22. We contacted the twenty-two local authorities paying below Government rates to challenge their allowance levels. Seven local authorities confirmed in response that they are paying at or above the national minimum allowance. This action by The Fostering Network has therefore resulted in £11,232.34 extra funding per week to directly meet the needs of children in foster care. In Scotland, there is still no national minimum allowance, meaning in some areas there has effectively been a ten-year freeze on rates paid. Sara Smith, head of operations, and a foster carer took

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part in media interviews to raise awareness of the issue in Scotland. we continue to meet with COSLA to ensure Scotland implements a recommended minimum fostering allowance as per the Scottish Government commitment.

Our Tick the Box campaign is a week of online activity which took in October, encouraging people with care experience to tick the box on their UCAS application to say they have spent time in care, as well as raising awareness and encouraging more people with care experience to think of higher and further education as an option for them. The campaign ran for five days, and included content from different universities, organisations such as UCAS and NNECL and people with care experience sharing their stories. The campaign was seen by over 57,000 people across social media, with a significant increase in the number of posts across the platforms and reach of the campaign, as well as a 125% increase in the number of universities who supported the campaign in comparison with the previous year.

We continued to work closely with The Promise in Scotland to ensure we support its implementation and encourage our membership to align to it. We met with Government representatives on a regular basis and the Children’s Minister in March, to discuss foster care and current issues regarding recruitment, retention and allowances.

As part of our commitment to The Promise, we have contributed to new practice guidance on supporting siblings to stay together and connected through our role on the national advisory group. This guidance launched in July 2021 and supports the implementation of new duties for Scottish local authorities that every looked after child will live with their brothers and sisters, where appropriate to do so. Siblings should be supported to sustain lifelong relationships, if appropriate, even if they cannot live together.

We also contribute to improving foster care through participation in a range of groups, meetings and forums in Scotland:

In Northern Ireland, we have engaged with foster and kinship foster carers consistently to highlight the challenges within foster care to government officials, politicians and policy makers. This included several meetings with Ministers for Health and for Education, and meeting with the education committee and health committee to reflect the concerns of foster carers. This engagement with foster carers was central to changes being made to the temporary modification of fostering regulations and influenced the Adoption and Children Bill which was passed into law into March. We continue to work in partnership with stakeholders and foster carers to raise awareness of children looked after and their carers.

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The Fostering Network Annual Review 2021-22

Objective: Support fostering families and the services that work with them to provide the best possible care for children and young people

Our work to support foster carers and services is central to everything we do as a membership organisation. Through advice and information, resources, training, events and programmes, we aim to work with all members of the fostering community to make foster care the best it can be.

Over 1,000 foster carers and 80 staff from services completed our membership survey in 2021, which we are using to inform our plans for improving member services and benefits in the future.

In England, the membership engagement team continued to meet with members in their regions, with a combined audience of around 400 people attending engagement activities and presentations.

We have continued to build on our success in delivering activities digitally following the pandemic, using technology to broaden the scope of our engagement activities, and significantly increasing our reach to our members. We have also worked closely with our partners to deliver relevant and timely information to members on a range of topics. This has included working with Williams Giles Accountants to provide expert advice on tax and national insurance via webinars and workshops (both online and face-to-face) to over 1,000 foster carer members. The Mortgage Brain have helped us to deliver two webinars to 120 members, while we have also started working with The Money Charity to offer financial education to members, with 143 members attending our first joint webinar.

In the 12 months to 31 March 2022, we offered a wide range of training courses and workshops across the UK. In total, The Fostering Network delivered 97 courses to over 1,000 delegates. Our training received an average 4.7/5 rating, with 95% scoring 4/5 or 5/5. We hosted the launch of the ‘Out There’ foster carer recruitment film with 30 local authorities across the UK, supporting a new approach to foster carer recruitment.

Our team in Wales worked with Internet Matters and the University of East Anglia to develop an innovative new course that will increase understanding across the sector of how supporting foster carers to improve their digital skills can positively impact the digital resilience of children in their care. The course was created in consultation with foster carers and care experienced young people and so far over 100 foster carers have received the training.

Our practice support team delivered the Start Talking project, in partnership with Sex Education Forum, producing guidance around supporting young people with sexual health and identity and encouraging foster carers to be more confident in exploring this with young people.

315 hours of training has been delivered to regions in Wales as part of the Fostering Wellbeing masterclass programme. These have reached over 650 members of the team around the child, including foster carers, social workers, teachers, education support services, and health workers.

We also provided training in partnership with Enquire to ensure foster families understand children’s rights in education, hosting two sessions through the Young Advocates project attended by over 87 people.

Over the past year, the advice and information service (comprising the Members’ Helpline in England, Fosterline Wales, Fosterline Scotland and our independent advice and information service in Northern Ireland) handled 5,505 enquiries, broken down as follows:

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For the 5,159 enquiries where we have noted the ‘origin’ of the enquiry, 3,226 came via telephone (62%), 1,887 came via email (36%), 28 came by mail, 12 were face-to-face enquiries, 5 enquiries came in by text and 1 on social media.

Foster Care magazine, sent three times a year to all members of The Fostering Network, continues to provide information and thought-provoking content which links to the issues we know foster carers are interested in. Information about key topics (such as Universal Credit, foster carer review and approval, and making a complaint) has been developed to further support foster carers in providing the best possible care for children.

The practice support team, which provides specialist practice support and expertise to fostering services, responded to 851 enquiries and held 144 forums with a total of 1,500 attendees.

Key developments included work around anti-racist practice in fostering, with anti-racist working groups being established in Yorkshire, The Humber, and the Northwest and learning and approach being rolled out across the country.

We continued to work with the Quality Parenting Initiative in the USA to enable an international exchange between foster carers from the UK and USA, much welcomed by those who took part.

The Independent Support Service has recruited 15 new independent support workers to expand our pool of support workers to 40. This expansion is vital, as referrals for our spot purchase service have increased again this year to over 250.

The Advice and Mediation service provides a quality service to foster carers and fostering services – supporting carers and their families through very difficult situations including de-registration and navigating with advocacy the allegations process. This year the team supported over 400 fostering families and 23 fostering services. We regularly receive positive feedback from foster carers using the Independent Support Service with 100% of responses saying that the support was excellent or good.

“We have been allocated LB as our representative from The Fostering Network and we would just like to take the time to let you know how exceptional she was in supporting us. She has helped us so much over the last four months and has been with us every step of the way. She always responded promptly, picked up the phone when we called and gave us excellent advice.” - comment from a member about the advice and mediation service

In March 2022, the Health Minister for Northern Ireland, Robin Swann, announced an extra £1 million for foster carers to help them with the extra costs they had to face during the pandemic. The Fostering Network was pleased to have worked with the Department to highlight the challenges foster carers were facing and advocating on their behalf to help secure this funding.

In 2021, we realised our ambition to improve how we collect and analyse information with the implementation of our new relationship management system, enabling us to process information more efficiently and leading to improvements in our renewal process, income generation and reducing the time taken to process data updates and customer service enquiries.

From April 2021 to March 2022 Mockingbird continued to sustain and support fostering families as well as to further expand activity across the UK. In September, the Fostering Network partnered with 21 new fostering services through the Department for Education’s, Children’s Social Care Recovery Fund. As of March 2022, Mockingbird now operates in a total of 63 fostering services with nearly 100 constellations providing the vital extended family model to almost 3000 foster carers and young people. Mockingbird has garnered interest from the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England and ministers have met with carers, staff, and young people for whom Mockingbird has proved a lifeline.

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At The Fostering Network the Mockingbird team continue to support all 63 services through implementation and provide a series of events throughout the year for all the participants; ranging from young people’s activity days to forums for foster carers and social workers, to workshops for senior leaders in services. All partners are currently committed to sustaining the model and, once operational can demonstrate outcomes that meet some of the key issues faced within the sector, such as retention and recruitment of carers and the stabilisation and normalisation of children and young people's journeys through the care system.

The evidence is compelling even before considering finances, which demonstrates that once established, Mockingbird is self-sustaining, with each £1 invested in the programme there is a saving of 99 pence. Therefore, Mockingbird provides significant cost savings for the care system, with an estimated £3.4 million estimated costs avoided between May 2018 and March 2021.

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Our Fundraising

We are grateful to all the donors, supporters and funders who joined us in our cause and supported us to achieve our mission across the UK.

The Mortgage Brain, Arthur Cox, and Williams Giles continued their support for us through partnerships and from staff fundraising events and activities over the year.

We are grateful to partners The Mortgage Brain and Williams Giles, who chose to sponsor our prestigious Fostering Excellence Awards again this year.

Foster Walk, our flagship fundraising event, saw the largest participation to date with over 350 people taking on walking challenges and raising over £7,500. We thank those member and supporter organisations who fielded teams.

Many community supporters organised their won events or took part in third party challenges. Harriet Minford raised over £2,000 through her London Marathon run; Kevin Williams took on the Snowdon at Night challenge.

We were extremely fortunate to receive a legacy gift during the year of over £61,000. During the year we launched a free will writing service for members and supporters in partnership with Farewill, encouraging others to leave a gift.

We are grateful to all our grant funders, including the National Lottery Community Fund, The Scottish and Welsh Governments, The Corra Foundation and HIVSRH Innovation Fund whose support has enabled us to design and deliver innovative projects that are improving foster care across the UK.

Fundraising practice

Our fundraising activity is focused on organisations and individuals that have an established relationship with The Fostering Network.

We support and adhere to the code of practice of the Fundraising Regulator and pay their levy. During the year we did not receive any complaints related to fundraising, we followed the best practice recommended by the Fundraising Regulator to protect vulnerable people and did not use third parties to raise funds on our behalf. Most of the fundraising expenditure is staff time and a significant proportion of this is spent developing formal bids for major projects and services. During the year the team supported operational staff in winning numerous grants and contracts.

We would like to recognise the enormous contribution that the following funders and supporters have made to our work over the year and to thank them for their vital support, as well as all our generous donors and fundraisers.

Ardea Cares Charitable Trust

Arthur Cox

BBC Children in Need

Child Concern Consortium

Department for Education (England)

Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (Northern Ireland)

Health and Social Care Board, Northern Ireland

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HIVSRH Innovation Fund

Lewis Family Charitable Trust

Life Changes Trust

Mrs M A Black’s Charitable Trust

Murphy-Neumann Charity

National Institute for Health Research

National Lottery Community Fund

Nominet

Northwood Charitable Trust

PCW

Scottish Government

Sir Jeremiah Colman Gift Trust

Susan Hall Charitable Trust

The Harrison Frank Family Foundation

The Hugh Fraser Foundation

The Mortgage Brain The Robertson Trust

The W M Mann Foundation Ulster Garden Villages

Vassiliou Family Charitable Trusts

Waitrose

Welsh Government Wexbaby Young Start Fund

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Our plans

We look the next 12 months with some significant developments planned, as well as building on the success of our existing projects and programmes.

We will continue our work to address equality, diversity and inclusion within our charity and ensure we are able to play an increasingly positive role in opposing racism and prejudice in the future. We will also continue to develop approaches that enable us to play our part in being an instrument for change in tackling racism in society, especially when these impact on fostering.

As we move into the final year of our current strategic period, we will continue to focus on improving member engagement, developing our evidence-base to inform our work, and ensuring we have the tools and expertise in place to offer effective and efficient support to members and other stakeholders. This will include:

Member engagement

Evidenced-based practice

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Growing our influence

Key Management Personnel

The Charity’s trustees and the senior leadership team comprise the key management personnel of the charity in charge of directing, controlling, running, and operating the charity on a day-to-day basis. The pay of the Chief Executive is reviewed annually and increased when possible following formal approval by the trustees. Key managers and all staff are part of a formal grading system that facilitates fair and transparent comparison of roles. The bands are reviewed each year and salaries are increased when possible following formal approval by the Chief Executive and Trustees.

Financial review

The trustees calculate the reserves required by the Fostering Network based on a risk assessment together with operational needs. The Trustees agreed that we could safely reduce those reserves in 2021/22 and still maintain long term sustainability. The Fostering Network started the year with a deficit budget with the intention to improve member services, to increase our capacity, and to diversify income. The global pandemic continued to place restrictions on face-to-face support while at the same time increasing the demand for our services as we provided our members with advice and information reconciling best care practice with constantly evolving government advice.

Notwithstanding the pressures from increasing inflation and the disruption from the pandemic The Fostering Network has made great progress, increasing investment in member services, developing our Mockingbird consultancy service, and preparing for a new release of The Skills to Foster in 2022/3.

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The Fostering Network Annual Review 2021-22

Income from fundraising including a legacy, and gifts in kind and increased by £122K. Continued growth in Membership of £43K and Consulting, £167K has left unrestricted income improved at £5,475K, an increase of £228K.

Income from restricted projects remained constant and overall income has increased from £6,430K to £6,662K.

The combined income from Publishing, Training, Advice, and Consulting has grown 13% from £1,020K to £1,152K, the growth is driven by the successful Mockingbird programme a key part of the range of highquality services that The Fostering Network provides to support its members. Investment in a new edition of Skills to Foster in the past year and new contracts for Mockingbird secured in early 2022 will ensure growth in these areas in the coming year.

Charitable expenditure on unrestricted activities increased by 7% to £5,513K with expenditure on membership services increasing by 6% to £3,003K. This increase helped The Fostering Network deliver its strategy goal to improve member services particularly through support during the pandemic.

In 2020/21 we made a major investment in IT as part of our digital transformation program. This successful project has been in use throughout the year to improve our understanding of our members needs and to help us plan and develop future activity. Use of services such as Microsoft 365 Teams and SharePoint has enabled staff to continue to work effectively throughout the pandemic whether from the office or from home. The charity has carried some duplicated IT infrastructure costs while improving systems causing a shortterm increase in operating costs for IT. Included in IT spend was £50K pro bono support from PwC for improvements to cyber security.

The net unrestricted deficit was in line with budget and plans at £119K.

Cash balances have decreased during the year by £98K due to the planned deficit, improved working capital and a £107K repayment of long-term loans.

In keeping with the charity’s policy of holding owned property at market value the Trustees have undertaken a formal valuation of its principal office located at 87 Blackfriars Road, London. The valuation was prepared by Lamberts LLP in March 2022 at £3,300K. At the end of March 2021, it was held at a value of £3,106K guided by advice from Lamberts LLP. The last formal valuation by Lamberts was in December 2018 when the property was valued at £3,550K. This was before London property prices were adversely affected by the pandemic.

Unrestricted reserves have increased by £75K. Restricted reserves reduced by £35K, leaving total reserves improved by £39K at £3,469K.

General reserves policy

In deciding on the level of unrestricted reserves required the board of trustees carries out an annual review to establish the level of reserves necessary to cover future investment, working capital and evaluated risks.

The policy for the level of unrestricted general reserves is now guided by a detailed evaluation of the risks included in the risk register. Each risk is valued and then that value is discounted by a percentage based on the likelihood of that risk occurring. The reserves also provide for any material future investment plans and for specific working capital required to manage large projects.

On this basis, general reserves required are calculated at £1,242K. At the year end, the charity holds general funds £3,167K which is tied up in property with overall cash balances of £626K. Property is held at

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market value of £3,300K, which remains a significant asset should there be a need for additional funds. On this basis, reserves are in line with the reserves policy.

Going concern

We have set out above a review of the financial performance during the financial year and our reserves position at the year end. We have adequate financial resources in the form of cash in the bank, the ability to raise financing secured on the charity’s property and have the structures in place to manage the business risks. In addition, our annual budgeting and forecasting processes have taken into consideration the current economic climate and its potential impact our various sources of income and anticipated expenditure.

We have a reasonable expectation that we have adequate resources and control mechanisms to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future.

Further, we believe that there are no material uncertainties (and this includes the global pandemic and rising inflation rates) that may cast doubt on the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern. Therefore, we continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the annual financial statements.

Risk management

The trustees have identified and reviewed the major risks to which the organisation is exposed and have established systems and procedures to manage those risks. This involved identifying more than 50 potential risks and then assessing the likelihood of their occurrence and their impact. Where systems are already in place to mitigate these risks, schedules for regular monitoring and reviews have been adopted. Where systems are not already in place, deadlines have been set for their development by staff and approval by trustees.

In managing risk, trustees have considered the following principal areas of risk.

Diversity of income streams and the significance of membership income. We have increased the staff and cost budgets to support members to provide improved services and have continued to strengthen other income such as Mockingbird. In the coming year we will take steps to further strengthen and diversify our income streams.

Ensuring child safety. We ensure staff are trained and supported in their work with Children and that appropriate policies, risk assessments and statutory checks are carried out.

Clarity of long-term strategic plans. The trustees meet each year to review and assess long-term strategic plans.

Inflation. The trustees have reviewed the impact of rising inflation and have provided for the evaluated impact in our reserves required.

Global Pandemic. The trustees have reviewed and evaluated the potential impact of the global pandemic on our short term and long-term income and expenditure. We have provided for the evaluated impact in the total unrestricted reserves required total of £1,242K.

Maintaining adequate reserve levels. We set a reserves level that reflect a financial evaluation of the specific risks that we face together with our fixed asset and working capital plans. We then set annual operating plans to ensure that we maintain enough reserves or so that we build towards the agreed level of reserves if there is a shortfall.

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Financial management and financial control. We use professionally qualified staff in our accounts department and have detailed budgets and operating plans that are reported against each month.

The physical condition of the principal property asset at 87 Blackfriars Road. We recognise that this property represents most of our financial reserves and we have an annual maintenance plan to keep it in good condition. In 2018 the building was completely refurbished.

The trustees continue to develop plans to grow unrestricted income, to invest in new income streams, to improve our services to our members and to maintain reserves at our agreed level.

Statement of responsibilities of the trustees

The trustees (who are also directors of The Fostering Network for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees’ annual report including the strategic 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 which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the 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 group if group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. In so far as the trustees are aware:

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Auditor

Sayer Vincent LLP was re-appointed as the charitable company's auditor during the year and has expressed its willingness to continue in that capacity.

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The trustees’ annual report, including the strategic report, is approved by order of the board of trustees in their capacity as the directors at a meeting on 3 October 2022 and signed on its behalf by:

Mervyn Erskine

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Independent auditor’s report to the members of The Fostering Network

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of The Fostering Network (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2022 which comprise the statement of financial activities, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 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:

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 are independent of the 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. 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 Fostering Network'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.

20

The Fostering Network Annual Review 2021-22

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 other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report, including the strategic report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. 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 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.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the 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’ annual report, including the strategic report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) require us to report to you if, in our opinion:

21

The Fostering Network Annual Review 2021-22

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the statement of trustees’ responsibilities set out in the trustees’ annual report, 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.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with regulations made under those Acts.

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. 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 are set out below.

Capability of the audit in detecting irregularities

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following

22

The Fostering Network Annual Review 2021-22

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

23

The Fostering Network Annual Review 2021-22

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 and section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. 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.

Joanna Pittman (Senior statutory auditor)

21 November 2022

for and on behalf of Sayer Vincent LLP, Statutory Auditor Invicta House, 108-114 Golden Lane, LONDON, EC1Y 0TL

Sayer Vincent LLP is eligible to act as auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006

24

The Fostering Network

Statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account)

For the year ended 31 March 2022

For theyear ended 31 March 2022 For theyear ended 31 March 2022
Unrestricted
Note
£
Income from:
2
332,005
Membership subscriptions
2,490,724
Specific projects
1,435,170
Publishing
79,767
Training and events
114,055
Advice services
242,180
Consultancy
715,773
Other trading activities
60,091
295
Sundry income
4,954
5,475,014
5
(81,355)
5
Membership services
(3,002,760)
Project costs
(1,414,376)
Publishing
(107,026)
Training and events
(136,405)
Advice services
(303,085)
Consultancy
(549,155)
(5,594,162)
-
(119,148)
193,750
74,602
Reconciliation of funds:
3,092,420
-
3,092,420
3,167,022
Investments
Total income
Expenditure on:
Donations and legacies
Charitable activities
Raising funds
Total expenditure
Net income before net gains / (losses) on
investments
Charitable activities
(119,148)
Total funds brought forward as previously
Total funds carried forward
Transfers between funds
Net income before other recognised gains
and losses
Gains on revaluation of fixed assets
Net movement in funds
Prior year adjustment
Total funds brought forward as restated		 Restricted
£
-
-
1,186,793
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 2022
Total
£
332,005
2,490,724
2,621,963
79,767
114,055
242,180
715,773
60,091
295
4,954
6,661,807
(81,355)
(3,002,760)
(2,636,495)
(107,026)
(136,405)
(303,085)
(549,155)
(6,816,281)
-
(154,474)
193,750
39,276
3,429,515
-
3,429,515
3,468,791
(154,474)		 Unrestricted
£
209,872
2,447,893
1,492,554
135,721
93,952
241,332
548,975
44,166
369
32,070		 Restricted
£
-
-
1,183,015
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 2021
Total
£
209,872
2,447,893
2,675,569
135,721
93,952
241,332
548,975
44,166
369
32,070
5,475,014 1,186,793 5,246,904 1,183,015 6,429,919
(81,355)
(3,002,760)
(1,414,376)
(107,026)
(136,405)
(303,085)
(549,155)		 -
-
(1,222,119)
-
-
-
-		 (92,683)
(2,842,210)
(1,496,336)
(88,859)
(157,132)
(257,844)
(294,006)		 -
-
(1,248,680)
-
-
-
-		 (92,683)
(2,842,210)
(2,745,016)
(88,859)
(157,132)
(257,844)
(294,006)
(5,594,162) (1,222,119) (5,229,070) (1,248,680) (6,477,750)
-
(119,148)		 -
(35,326)		 4,824
17,834		 (4,824)
(65,665)		 -
(47,831)
(119,148)
193,750		 (35,326)
-		 22,658
-		 (70,489)
-		 (47,831)
-
74,602 (35,326) 22,658 (70,489) (47,831)
3,092,420
-		 337,095
-		 3,069,762
-		 841,768
(434,184)		 3,911,530
(434,184)
3,092,420
3,167,022		 337,095
301,769		 3,069,762
3,092,420		 407,584
337,095		 3,477,346
3,429,515

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Movements in funds are disclosed in Notes 3 and 19 to the financial statements.

The prior year adjustment shown in the 2021 figures above relate to an adjustment made in the 2021 financial statements. The prior year figures were restated for the Confidence in Care Wales restricted fund as explained in note 20a of the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021.

25

The Fostering Network

Company no. 01507277

Balance sheet

As at 31 March 2022

Note
Fixed assets:
12
13
Current assets:
14
Liabilities:
15
16
19
Total unrestricted funds
Investments
Cash at bank and in hand
Tangible assets
Stock
Debtors
Creditors: amounts falling after one year
Total charity funds
General funds
The funds of the charity:
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Net current liabilities
Total net assets
Restricted income funds
Unrestricted income funds:
Designated funds
Revaluation reserve		 £
10,089
1,872,915
625,611		 2022
£
3,774,978
2		 £
32,313
1,443,654
724,045		 2021
£
3,575,503
2
3,774,980
(70,677)		 3,575,505
256,156
2,508,615
(2,579,292)
-
1,797,509
1,369,513		 2,200,012
(1,943,856)
-
1,603,759
1,488,661
(235,512) (402,146)
3,468,791 3,429,515
301,769
3,167,022		 337,095
3,092,420
3,468,791 3,429,515

Approved by the trustees on 3 October 2022 and signed on their behalf by

Mervyn Erskine Chair of the board of trustees

Sophie Massey Honorary treasurer

26

The Fostering Network

Statement of cash flows

For the year ended 31 March 2022

Net income for the reporting period
(as per the statement of financial activities)
Depreciation charges
Investment income
(Increase)/decrease in stocks
(Increase)/decrease in debtors
Increase/(decrease) in creditors
Analysis of changes in net debt
Cash and cash equivalents
Cash at bank and in hand
Borrowings
Debt due within one year
Debt due after one year
Total
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
Net cash provided by / (used in) financing activities
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year
Repayments of borrowing
Cash inflows from new borrowing
Cash flows from operating activities
Cash flows from financing activities:
Net cash provided by / (used in) investing activities
Net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities
Cash flows from investing activities:
Dividends, interest and rents from investments
Purchase of property, plant and equipment
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year		 £
£
(154,474)
97,244
(295)
22,224
(429,261)
576,425
111,863
295
(102,969)
(102,674)
(107,623)
-
(107,623)
(98,434)
724,045
625,611
At 1 April
2021
Cash flows
£
£
724,045
(98,434)
724,045
(98,434)
107,618
(59,011)
402,146
(48,612)
509,764
(107,623)
1,233,810
(206,057)
2022		 £
£
(154,474)
97,244
(295)
22,224
(429,261)
576,425
111,863
295
(102,969)
(102,674)
(107,623)
-
(107,623)
(98,434)
724,045
625,611
At 1 April
2021
Cash flows
£
£
724,045
(98,434)
724,045
(98,434)
107,618
(59,011)
402,146
(48,612)
509,764
(107,623)
1,233,810
(206,057)
2022		 £
£
(47,831)
109,121
(369)
4,072
(191,800)
67,694
(59,113)
369
(403,817)
(403,448)
(100,584)
250,000
149,416
(313,145)
1,037,190
724,045
Other non-
cash changes
£
£
-
625,611
-
625,611
118,022
166,629
(118,022)
235,512
-
402,141
-
1,027,753
2021
At 31 March
2022		 £
£
(47,831)
109,121
(369)
4,072
(191,800)
67,694
(59,113)
369
(403,817)
(403,448)
(100,584)
250,000
149,416
(313,145)
1,037,190
724,045
Other non-
cash changes
£
£
-
625,611
-
625,611
118,022
166,629
(118,022)
235,512
-
402,141
-
1,027,753
2021
At 31 March
2022
295
(102,969)		 369
(403,817)
(107,623)
-		 (100,584)
250,000
At 1 April
2021
£
724,045		 Other non-
cash changes
£
-
(98,434)
724,045		 (313,145)
1,037,190
625,611 724,045
Cash flows
£
(98,434)		 £
625,611
At 31 March
2022
724,045
107,618
402,146		 (98,434)
(59,011)
(48,612)		 -
118,022
(118,022)		 625,611
166,629
235,512
509,764 (107,623) - 402,141
1,233,810 (206,057) - 1,027,753

27

The Fostering Network

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

1 Accounting policies

a) Statutory information

The Fostering Network is a charitable company limited by guarantee and is incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office address is 87 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8HA

.

b) 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), the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005.

Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note.

The subsidiary company did not trade in the year. Therefore the results of the charity and the group are the same.

c) Public benefit entity

The charitable company meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

d) Going concern

The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern; the charitable company has sufficient reserves and adequate controls to mitigate the risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The charity has very stable, regular income and has forecast future activities, balance sheet and operating surplus for three years. It manages working capital with monthly cash flow forecasts.

e) Income

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and that the amount can be measured reliably. The following specific policies apply to categorise of income:

Income from government and other grants, whether ‘capital’ grants or ‘revenue’ grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred.

Income received in advance of the provision of a specified service is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met.

For legacies, entitlement is taken as the earlier of the date on which either: the charity is aware that probate has been granted, the estate has been finalised and notification has been made by the executor(s) to the charity that a distribution will be made, or when a distribution is received from the estate. Receipt of a legacy, in whole or in part, is only considered probable when the amount can be measured reliably, and the charity has been notified of the executor’s intention to make a distribution. Where legacies have been notified to the charity, or the charity is aware of the granting of probate, and the criteria for income recognition have not been met, then the legacy is a treated as a contingent asset and disclosed if material.

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The Fostering Network

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

1 Accounting policies (continued)

f) Donations of gifts, services and facilities

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

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

g) Interest receivable

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

h) Fund accounting

Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure which meets these criteria is charged to the fund.

Unrestricted funds are donations and other incoming resources received or generated for the charitable purposes.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular purposes.

i) Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

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

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.

j) Allocation of support costs

Support and governance costs are re-allocated to each of the activities on the following basis which is an estimate, based on staff time, of the amount attributable to each activity

- Membership 73%
- Specific projects 14%
- Training and events 2%
- Advice services 3%
- Consultancy 6%
- Raising funds 1%
- Publishing 0%

Governance costs are the costs associated with the governance arrangements of the charity. These costs are associated with constitutional and statutory requirements and include any costs associated with the strategic management of the charity’s activities.

k) Operating leases

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

29

The Fostering Network

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

1 Accounting policies (continued)

l) Tangible fixed assets

Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £1,000. Depreciation costs are allocated to activities on the basis of the use of the related assets in those activities. Assets are reviewed for impairment if circumstances indicate their carrying value may exceed their net realisable value and value in use.

Freehold land and buildings are recognised under the revaluation model under FRS102, and any excess between the revalued amount and the historic cost of the asset will be shown as a revaluation reserve in the balance sheet. Freehold land and buildings are not depreciated as the property is maintained in good condition and therefore the residual value is considered to be in line with the carrying value.

Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The depreciation rates in use are as follows:

Over four years Over two to ten years Over three to seven years Not depreciated Not depreciated

m) Investments in subsidiaries

Investments in subsidiaries are at cost.

n) Stocks

Stocks consist of publications for resale and materials for use in training courses. They are stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value. In general, cost is determined on a first in first out basis and includes transport and handling costs. Net realisable value is the price at which stocks can be sold in the normal course of business after allowing for the costs of realisation. Provision is made where necessary for obsolete, slow moving and defective stocks.

o) Debtors

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

p) 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.

q) Creditors and provisions

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

r) Financial instruments

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

30

The Fostering Network

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

1 Accounting policies (continued)

s) Pensions

The Fostering Network operates a defined contribution pension scheme and the amount charged to the SOFA in respect of pension costs and other post-retirement benefits is the contributions payable in the year. Differences between contributions payable in the year and contributions actually paid are shown in either accruals or prepayments in the balance sheet.

t) Management estimates and judgements

In the process of applying its accounting policies the charity is required to make certain estimates, judgements and assumptions. Examples of these are: valuation of freehold property in light of the COVID-19 pandemic (see note 12); where goods and services have been provided but not invoiced to us, we estimate the value of the services; where stock is slow moving we apply a net realisable value if that is lower than cost. Where debtors are materially overdue we reduce their value to zero.

31

The Fostering Network

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

2 Income from donations and legacies

Income from donations and legacies
Donations
Gifts in kind
Core grants
Northern Ireland Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety
Scottish Government		 2022
£
149,747
50,000
43,490
88,768		 2021
£
76,291
-
44,813
88,768
332,005 209,872

3 Projects income (current year) Restricted Projects

Restricted Projects
Projects income (current year)
Fostering Digital Skills for Life
Scotland
Triumph
Wales
Total projects
Northern Ireland
Fostering Communities
England / Headquarters
Fair Start
Jon and Kathy Broad Award
England / Headquarters
Mockingbird
Quilts for Children in Care
Kinship Care Support
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Fosterline Scotland
Wales
Confidence in Care
Scottish Newsletter
Young Advocates
Start Talking
Step Up Step Down
Fostering Excellence
Other Welsh Government projects
Fostering Wellbeing
Capturing the Voice
Moving On
The Promise		 Balance at 1
April 2021
£
59,491
1,600
15,612
4,846
-		 Income 2021
£
-
-
104,887
-
39,937		 Expenditure
2021
£
(18,628)
(250)
(117,708)
(1,097)
(39,937)		 Transfers
£
-
-
-
-
-		 Balance at
31 March
2022
£
40,863
1,350
2,791
3,749
-
81,549 144,824 (177,620) - 48,753
-
3,542
25,932		 30,089
-
133,477		 (30,089)
(3,542)
(134,770)		 -
-
-		 -
-
24,639
29,474 163,566 (168,401) - 24,639
10,578
(3,338)
-
3,335
-
40,270		 -
56,232
63,909
-
145,000
66,068		 (10,578)
(52,894)
(35,053)
1,121
(32,836)
(68,906)		 -
-
-
-
-
-		 -
-
28,856
4,456
112,164
37,432
50,845 331,209 (199,146) - 182,908
113,301
3,157
8,454
37,026
5,329
7,960		 -
264,874
-
282,320
-
-		 (113,301)
(274,861)
-
(278,291)
(5,329)
(5,170)		 -
-
-
-
-
-		 -
(6,830)
8,454
41,055
-
2,790
175,227 547,194 (676,952) - 45,469
337,095 1,186,793 (1,222,119) - 301,769

32

The Fostering Network

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

3 Projects income (prior year) Restricted Projects

Fostering Digital Skills for Life
Scotland
Triumph
Wales
Total projects
Quilts for Children in Care
England / Headquarters
Foster Carer Retention
Jon and Kathy Broad Award
Fostering Potential
Mockingbird
Young Advocates
Other Welsh Government projects
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Kinship Care Support
Step Up Step Down
England / Headquarters
Scotland
Capturing the Voice
Fosterline Scotland
Scottish Newsletter
Wales
Confidence in Care
Fostering Communities
Fostering Excellence
Fostering Wellbeing		 Balance at 1
April 2020
as restated
£
5,211
-
4,353
1,850
576
7,487		 Income 2020
as restated
£
-
59,491
-
-
291,208
-		 Expenditure
2020
£
-
-
(4,740)
(250)
(276,172)
(2,641)		 Transfers
£
(5,211)
-
387
-
-
-		 Balance at
31 March
2021
£
-
59,491
-
1,600
15,612
4,846
19,477 350,699 (283,803) (4,824) 81,549
6,486
16,532		 34,710
175,363		 (37,654)
(165,963)		 -
-		 3,542
25,932
23,018 210,073 (203,617) - 29,474
12,153
60
8,033
31,032		 -
56,232
-
97,969		 (1,575)
(59,630)
(4,698)
(88,731)		 -
-
-
-		 10,578
(3,338)
3,335
40,270
51,278 154,201 (154,634) - 50,845
281,553
-
12,947
-
19,311
-		 (78,350)
247,792
-
287,600
-
11,000		 (89,902)
(244,635)
(4,493)
(250,574)
(13,982)
(3,040)		 -
-
-
-
-
-		 113,301
3,157
8,454
37,026
5,329
7,960
313,811 468,042 (606,626) - 175,227
407,584 1,183,015 (1,248,680) (4,824) 337,095

4 Unrestricted Projects (current year)

Fostering Achievement Total projects

Income 2022
£
1,435,170		 Expenditure
2022
£
(1,414,377)
1,435,170 (1,414,377)

33

The Fostering Network

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

4 Unrestricted Projects (prior year)

Total projects
Fostering Achievement		 Income 2021
£
1,492,554		 Expenditure
2021
£
(1,496,336)
1,492,554 (1,496,336)

Purposes of restricted funds

The restricted funds relate to the following projects:

England

Mockingbird - Mockingbird led by The Fostering Network in the UK, delivers sustainable foster care. It is an evidence-based model structured around the support and relationships an extended family provides. The model nurtures the relationships between children, young people and foster families supporting them to build a resilient and caring community. The model now operates in 62 fostering services, either funded by the Department of Education or self-funded.

Fostering Digital Skills for Life - The Fostering Network is working with Internet Matters and University of East Anglia on the project, Fostering Digital Skills for Life. The project will create and deliver CPD-accredited training, giving foster carers the choice between self-study or facilitator-led learning. The project will also increase understanding across the sector of how supporting foster carers to improve their digital skills can positively impact the digital resilience of children in their care. This project is funded by Nominet as part of the REACH portfolio.

Quilts for Children in Foster Care - This is a long-running project that provides fostered children with their own hand-made quilt. A team of volunteers from Helping Hands Quilters create these bespoke quilts throughout the year and we then distribute these to children and young people across the UK. The quilts, matched carefully to each child, become treasured possessions and part of their life story. This has been supported by a grant from the Cotton Industry War Memorial Trust and The HarrisonFrank Family Foundation.

The Jon and Kathy Broad Award - In memory of Kathy Broad, this is an annual award for foster carers caring for children with special needs and presented as part of the charity's Fostering Excellence Awards.

Start Talking – the Start Talking project aims to increase the knowledge, skills, and confidence of foster carers in supporting the children and young people they care for to have better sexual and reproductive health outcomes. The Fostering Network have worked in partnership with The Sex Education Forum, funded by The Innovation Fund and informed by young people with care experience and foster carers.

Northern Ireland

Fair Start – this funding from the Department of Health aimed to help support children transition back into education and learning environments, both in school and at home, providing therapeutic and grounding strategies so they can settle to learn following the traumatic environment that has surrounded children and families in the last 18 months.

Kinship Care Support - funded by Children in Need and Ulster Garden Villages, this programme supports young people in kinship foster care and their carers to access support to help improve their well-being, build their skills and enable their engagement with the programme.

Step Up Step Down - this is a seven year project, funded by The National Lottery Community Fund for Northern Ireland operating in partnership with the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust works with families on the periphery of the care system from being taken into care and instead support them to stay within their own homes.

Scotland

Capturing the Voice - This project, funded by The Robertson Trust, Awards for All and Hugh Fraser Foundation, aims to ensure the views of disabled children and young people are heard at decision making meetings and panels and is an extension of the work we carried out as part of our previous Walking Tall project.

34

The Fostering Network

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

Purposes of restricted funds (continued)

Fosterline Scotland - An independent and confidential service providing advice, information, mediation and support to foster carers across Scotland on all aspects of fostering, funded by the Scottish Government.

Moving On - Funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, the Moving On project is a two year project focusing on supporting children and young people and foster families with the complexities and challenges of the transitions made through care and beyond of care.

Scottish Newsletter - This is distributed to all our members in Scotland, including 97% of fostering households across Scotland. This is funded by a variety of grants and donations.

The Promise – funded by Scottish Government and arising from the findings of the Care Review in February 2020, this project aims to deliver ‘The Promise’ in Scotland. We will implement change, challenge thinking where necessary, and create a young person’s advisory board to ensure that children and young people are truly placed at the heart of the work.

Young Advocates - This project, funded by Life Changes Trust and Young Start Fund (delivered by the National Lottery Community Fund), will see young people with care experience create learning opportunities for teachers and trainee teachers around what the day-to-day reality of school or college can be like for them. The young advocates will also train foster carers to help build their awareness of how they can best support the children and young people in their care.

Wales

Confidence in Care - The aim of the project is to improve the life chances of looked after children and young people in Wales by improving placement stability through better interaction and attachment levels, developing a more positive outlook towards education and future career goals, increasing resilience and life skills, and using robust learning and evaluation evidence to influence future policy development in Wales. The Fostering Network is working with Action for Children, Barnardo's, Cardiff University and TACT to deliver this programme. The charity has acted as an agency for our partners, receiving conduit funding from the Big Lottery Fund.

The charity is due to return unspent funds of £102k to the funder (included in creditors) and make a final payment of £34k to partners.�

Fostering Communities (including Fosterline Wales) 2020-2025 - This is a new national programme of improvement and support led by The Fostering Network in Wales and funded by the Welsh Government’s Sustainable Social Services Third Sector Grant 2020-2023 (extended to 2025). Embedded within Fostering Communities is a co-production approach, which means we will work in equal partnership with foster carers, children and young people in care and fostering services to plan and deliver the programme. Working together as co-creators and sharing power will enable us to build a strong and resilient fostering community with the aim of improving wellbeing for all. Fostering Communities recognises that everyone in the fostering sector has a vital contribution to make in order to improve the quality of life for children and young people in care and their foster families.

Fostering Excellence (including Fosterline Wales) 2016-2019 - This three-year programme of interventions that will improve the experience of looked after children in Wales, support foster carers to provide permanent, stable and aspiring homes, and ensure that looked after children in Wales are able to make a positive and valued contributions to future generations. Funded by the Welsh Government.

Fostering Wellbeing - This pilot programme is funded by the Welsh Government and delivered by The Fostering Network in Wales. The programme aims to test and evaluate social pedagogy principles (focused on education and the upbringing of children) in a foster care environment. This project operates at regional level across Wales, delivering learning, bringing people together and sharing best practice across service boundaries with an aim to embed a shared approach that will support improved outcomes for children and young people.

Other Welsh Government projects - A number of Welsh Government funded projects including work to develop the recruitment of new local authority foster carers and provide training to existing foster carers in respect of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children.

Triumph (Co-production or adaptation of online interventions for foster care: Promoting the mental health and wellbeing of care-experienced children and young people) - Recently, there has been a move to deliver services online, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This has highlighted a number of challenges for those working with care-experienced young people.. This project will look at how to best develop online programmes for care-experienced young people, or how to or adapt them from in person to online delivery. From this study the team will develop guidance to support policymakers, practitioners and researchers in developing and adapting programmes for delivery online. These will focus on how to best engage young people, while properly assessing risk and ensuring protection.

35

The Fostering Network

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

5 Analysis of expenditure

Analysis of expenditure
Staff costs (Note 8)
Support costs
Other costs
Total expenditure 2022		 Raising funds
£
62,617
13,091
5,647
81,355		 Membership
services
£
1,723,884
838,784
440,092
3,002,760		 Project costs
£
1,173,929
164,651
1,297,915
2,636,495		 Publishing
£
-
4,510
102,516
107,026		 Training and
events
£
86,930
18,095
31,380
136,405		 Advice
services
£
239,895
38,314
24,876
303,085		 Consultancy
£
246,805
63,846
238,504
549,155		 2022
Total
£
3,534,060
1,141,291
2,140,930
6,816,281

5 Analysis of expenditure (prior year)

Staff costs (Note 8)
Support costs
Other costs
Total expenditure 2021		 Raising funds
£
70,557
17,184
4,942
92,683		 Membership
services
£
1,848,059
733,099
261,052
2,842,210		 Project costs
£
1,218,690
227,474
1,298,852
2,745,016		 Publishing
£
-
8,078
80,781
88,859		 Training and
events
£
83,669
21,705
51,758
157,132		 Advice
services
£
223,093
23,440
11,311
257,844		 Consultancy
£
97,532
37,378
159,096
294,006		 2021
Total
£
3,541,600
1,068,358
1,867,792
6,477,750

36

The Fostering Network

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

6 Support costs

Support costs
Facilities
Finance
HR
IT
Management
Governance
Total expenditure 2022		 Raising funds
£
6,546
1,706
1,079
2,598
998
164
13,091		 Membership
services
£
128,848
185,016
117,002
281,814
108,264
17,840
838,784		 Project costs
£
6,768
41,146
26,020
62,673
24,077
3,967
164,651		 Publishing
£
185
1,127
713
1,717
659
109
4,510		 Training and
events
£
6,751
2,956
1,870
4,503
1,730
285
18,095		 Advice
services
£
1,575
9,574
6,055
14,584
5,603
923
38,314		 Consultancy
£
17,310
12,128
7,669
18,473
7,097
1,169
63,846		 2022
Total
£
167,983
253,653
160,408
386,362
148,428
24,457
1,141,291

6 Support costs (prior year)

Support costs (prior year)
Facilities
Finance
HR
IT
Management
Governance
Total expenditure 2021		 Raising funds
£
9,949
2,271
1,091
2,671
1,089
113
17,184		 Membership
services
£
115,389
193,929
93,117
228,099
92,956
9,609
733,099		 Project costs
£
9,511
68,429
32,857
80,486
32,800
3,391
227,474		 Publishing
£
338
2,430
1,167
2,858
1,165
120
8,078		 Training and
events
£
8,728
4,074
1,956
4,792
1,953
202
21,705		 Advice
services
£
980
7,051
3,386
8,294
3,380
349
23,440		 Consultancy
£
12,788
7,720
3,707
9,080
3,700
383
37,378		 2021
Total
£
157,683
285,904
137,281
336,280
137,043
14,167
1,068,358

37

The Fostering Network

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

7 Net income / (expenditure) for the year

This is stated after charging / (crediting):

This is stated after charging / (crediting):
2022 2021
£ £
Depreciation 97,244 109,121
Operating lease rentals:
Property 35,611 39,930
Other 1,328 1,418
Rent receivable as lessor
Property 54,637 39,926
Auditor's remuneration (excluding VAT):
Audit 14,000 13,300
Other services 954 900

8 Analysis of staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses, and the cost of key management personnel

Staff costs were as follows:

Employer’s contribution to defined contribution pension schemes
Social security costs
Redundancy and termination costs
Salaries and wages		 2022
£
3,075,597
30,661
283,760
144,042		 2021
£
3,096,999
1,838
297,537
145,226
3,534,060 3,541,600

The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs and employer's national insurance) during the year between:

£60,000 - £69,999
£70,000 - £79,999
£90,000 - £99,999
£100,000 - £109,999		 2022
No.
1
1
-
1		 2021
No.
2
1
1
-

The total employee benefits (including pension contributions and employer's national insurance) of the key management personnel were £511,047 (2021: £499,631).

The charity trustees were neither paid nor received any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2021: £nil). No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2021: £nil).

Indemnity insurance is provided for trustees at a premium of £1,321 (2021: £1,355).

Trustees' expenses represents the payment or reimbursement of travel costs totalling £219.41 (2021: £102) incurred by 1 (2021: 1) members relating to attendance at meetings of the trustees.

38

The Fostering Network

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

9 Staff numbers

The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year was 97, 84 FTE (2021: 99, 86 FTE).

Staff are split across the activities of the charitable company as follows (full time equivalent basis):

Staff are split across the activities of the charitable company as follows (full time equivalent
basis):
Membership services
Training & events
Advice services
Cost of raising funds
Project costs
Consultancy		 2022
No.
1
37
30
3
6
7		 2021
No.
1
44
31
3
5
2
84 86

10 Related party transactions

There are no donations from related parties which are outside the normal course of business and no restricted donations from related parties.

The Fostering Network received no donations from trustees (2021: £nil). The trustees receive no benefit from the donations made to the charity.

11 Taxation

The charitable company is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes.

39

The Fostering Network

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

12 Tangible fixed assets

At the end of the year
At the start of the year
At the end of the year
At the end of the year
At the start of the year
Charge for the year
At the start of the year
Additions in year
Revaluation
Cost or valuation
Depreciation
Net book value		 Freehold
property
£
3,106,250
-
193,750		 Leasehold
improvements
£
25,277
-
-		 Furniture
£
71,132
-
-		 Computer
equipment
£
539,311
102,969
-		 Total
£
3,741,970
102,969
193,750
3,300,000 25,277 71,132 642,280 4,038,689
-
-
-		 1,474
2,528
4,002		 31,776
17,783
49,559		 133,217
76,933
210,150		 166,467
97,244
263,711
3,300,000 21,275 21,573 432,130 3,774,978
3,106,250 23,803 39,356 406,094 3,575,503

Land with a value of £952,817 (2021: £896,875) is included within freehold property and not depreciated. The carrying amount on the cost model would be £1,322,221 (2021: £1,322,221). The purchase price of the freehold building was £450,000 in 1999. The freehold property is not depreciated because the Charity believes that the residual value of the property is in line with the carrying value.

In order to reduce the long term cost to the company of the London office, 23% of the total space is leased to tenants. The property is shown in the accounts at Market Valuation.

The Charity follows the revaluation model for freehold premises. Land and Buildings were revalued as at 31 March 2022 by Lamberts Chartered Surveyors on an existing use open market basis in accordance with Guidance Notes of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Lamberts are not connected with the charity.

13 Investments

The Fostering Network owns the whole of the issued ordinary share capital of National Foster Care Association Services Ltd, a company registered in England. The subsidiary was dormant in the year.

2022 2021
£ £
Trading subsidiary (cost) 2 2

40

The Fostering Network

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

14 Debtors

Debtors
Trade debtors
Other debtors
Prepayments		 2022
£
1,591,370
116,715
164,830		 2021
£
1,148,946
121,602
173,106
1,872,915 1,443,654

All of the charity’s financial instruments, both assets and liabilities, are measured at amortised cost. The carrying values of these are shown above and in note 16.

15 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Bank loan
Deferred income
Taxation and social security
Other creditors and accruals
Trade creditors
Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan		 2022
£
335,358
324,228
506,750
1,246,327
107,627
59,002		 2021
£
645,319
408,431
283,589
498,899
107,618
-
2,579,292 1,943,856

16 Creditors: amounts falling after one year

Creditors: amounts falling after one year
Repayable in more than 5 years
Repayable in 1-5 years		 2022
£
235,512
-		 2021
£
360,479
41,667
235,512 402,146

This comprises a bank loan and a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBIL). Both loans are secured over the freehold property and interest on both loans is charged on floating rate basis. The CBIL is for 6 years, with the first year interest free and repayment free. The first repayment is due April 2022.

17 Deferred income

Deferred income comprises of income relating to services to be provided in 2021/22, but have been invoiced prior to 31 March 2022.

Training and events
Advice services
Membership services
Consultancy
Balance at the end of the year		 At 1 April
2021
£
10,410
78,318
277,536
132,635		 Released
£
(10,410)
(78,318)
(273,681)
(132,635)		 Deferred
£
4,506
103,839
234,802
899,325		 At 31 March
2022
£
4,506
103,839
238,657
899,325
498,899 (495,044) 1,242,472 1,246,327

41

The Fostering Network

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

18 Analysis of net assets between funds (current year)

Investments
Long term liabilities
Net assets at 31 March 2022
Tangible fixed assets
Net current (liabilities)/ assets		 General
unrestricted
£
3,774,978
2
(372,446)
(235,512)		 Designated
£
-
-
-
-		 Restricted
£
-
-
301,769
-		 Total funds
£
3,774,978
2
(70,677)
(235,512)
3,167,022 - 301,769 3,468,791

Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year)

Net current (liabilities)/ assets
Tangible fixed assets
Investments
Long term liabilities
Net assets at 31 March 2021		 General
unrestricted
£
3,575,503
2
(80,939)
(402,146)		 Designated
£
-
-
-
-		 Restricted
£
-
-
337,095
-		 Total funds
£
3,575,503
2
256,156
(402,146)
3,092,420 - 337,095 3,429,515

19 Movements in funds (current year)

General reserve
Revaluation reserve
Total unrestricted funds		 At 1 April 2021
£
1,488,661
1,603,759		 Income &
gains
£
5,475,014
193,750		 Expenditure
& losses
£
(5,594,162)
-
Transfers
£
-
-		 At 31 March
2022
£
1,369,513
1,797,509
3,092,420 5,668,764 (5,594,162) - 3,167,022

Movements in funds (prior year)

General reserve
Revaluation reserve
Designated reserve
Total unrestricted funds		 At 1 April 2020
£
1,205,003
1,603,759
261,000		 Income &
gains
£
5,246,904
-
-		 Expenditure
& losses
£
(5,229,070)
-
-
Transfers
£
265,824
-
(261,000)		 At 31 March
2021
£
1,488,661
1,603,759
-
3,069,762 5,246,904 (5,229,070) 4,824 3,092,420

The designated funds were held for the IT development project.

42

The Fostering Network

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2022

20a Operating lease commitments

The charity's total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases is as follows for each of the following periods.


following periods.
Property Other
2022 2021 2022 2021
£ £ £ £
Less than one year 35,755 30,283 1,075 1,481
One to five years 11,194 14,306 896 -
46,949 44,589 1,971 1,481

20b Operating lease commitments receivable as a lessor

Amounts receivable under non-cancellable operating leases are as follows for each of the following periods

One to five years
Less than one year		 2022
2021
£
£
57,542
54,637
-
-
57,542
54,637
Property		 2022
2021
£
£
57,542
54,637
-
-
57,542
54,637
Property
57,542 54,637

21 Legal status of the charity

The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. The liability of each member in the event of winding up is limited to £1.

43