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2023-12-31-accounts

Charity No. 290726

Group for the Advancement of Psychodynamics and Psychotherapy in Social Work Receipts and Payments Accounts 31 December 2023

Group for the Advancement of Psychodynamics and Psychotherapy in Social Work

Reference and administrative details

Reference and administrative details Reference and administrative details
For theyear ended 31 December 2023
Status The organisation is a registered charity, registered on 10 December
1984.
Charity number 290726
Registered office 90 High Street
Yatton
Bristol
BS49 4DW
Trustees The trustees who served during the year and up to the date of this
report were as follows:
Tracy Almond
Brittany Bernard
Nigel Elliott (Treasurer to 5 January 2024.
Deceased February 2024)
Maria Emilsson
Miriam Gale
Juliet Koprowska Chair
Philip Leonard
Susie Pavey (Resigned 1 June 2023)
Elizabeth Reilly Secretary
Afiya Rufaro
Andrew Sach
Katharine Scanlan Treasurer as of 27January 2024
Louise Sims
Independent examiners Godfrey Wilson Limited
Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors
5th Floor, Mariner House
62 Prince Street
Bristol
BS1 4QD

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Group for the Advancement of Psychodynamics and Psychotherapy in Social Work

Chair's report

For the year ended 31 December 2023

The trustees present their report and unaudited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2023.

History

In 1984 a group of social workers set up GAPS to promote therapeutic approaches in relation to direct work with clients/service users. It became a UK charity in the same year (no. 290726) and is registered under its original title, Group for the Advancement of Psychodynamics and Psychotherapy in Social Work. In the same period, the Journal of Social Work Practice (JSWP) was established to give voice to this therapeutic perspective. This publication is owned by the GAPS membership and published under licence by the Taylor & Francis Group. In 2010, GAPS signed a ten-year publishing agreement from which we receive royalties and editorial expenses calculated annually and based on sales relating to the Journal. The arrangement with Taylor & Francis was renewed for 5 years in 2020.

Structure, management and governance

GAPS is governed by its Constitution - revised in 2016, 2018 and 2021 - which sets out the appointment, roles and responsibilities of trustees/Executive Committee. The day-to-day running of the organisation is managed by an Executive Committee, elected by GAPS members.

Objectives and activities

The main objective of GAPS is to promote relationship-based approaches and the importance of psychodynamic and systemic thinking in social work. These aims are designed to ‘benefit the public’ in ways that enhance the quality of life for individuals and families by supporting social workers. In pursuit of these aims we produce the JSWP which gives social workers access to research and other kinds of knowledge and provides GAPS’ major source of income. We use this to promote the journal, to fund the administrative infrastructure of GAPS, and to resource activities and events where front-line social work practitioners and managers can learn, think and feel.

Achievements and performance

The following summarises the main activities of GAPS since the last AGM on 25 October 2022.

GAPS has held a number of online workshops, as well as one in-person workshop and a hybrid conference based in Birmingham. The Trustee Board has met online for half of its meetings, to reduce costs and travel time, and make it easier for Trustees to be present. The Board held an inperson visioning day in July to determine strategy for the next two-three years. The Board has had a stable core, GAPS has a steady income from the Journal of Social Work Practice, the Project Coordinator and Administrator provide consistent management and administration, and membership has increased. New ventures this year and new opportunities in the coming year will foster continued development.

1. Administration of GAPS

(a) The GAPS office, Bristol

The GAPS office is a virtual office hosted by a social enterprise facility in the Easton area of the city. Hannah Pepper, the Project Coordinator, and Stephen Marsden, the Administrator and Accounts Officer are freelance, self-employed staff who work mainly from home offices. They work closely with Trustees, contribute new ideas and keep the website, the finances and the whole organisation working smoothly.

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Group for the Advancement of Psychodynamics and Psychotherapy in Social Work

Chair's report

For the year ended 31 December 2023

(b) Board of trustees

The trustees usually meet four times a year, with the first two meetings held online. The third pioneered a new mini-video-conferencing system, with some present meeting in central London, and others coming in on Zoom, a system we will use again for the last meeting of the year. Board meeting dates for 2023 were:

  1. Saturday 28 January 2023 (online)

  2. Saturday 22 April 2023 (hybrid)

  3. Friday 7 – Saturday 8 July 2023 (in person, visioning and regular meeting)

  4. Saturday 25 November 2023 (hybrid)

Subgroups work on different areas of the Board’s responsibilities in between meetings. Nigel Elliott, the Treasurer, worked closely with the coordinator and administrator. Between them they have kept a close eye on the finances, allowing us to budget for events with confidence. The other main areas of work are the National Conference, the Clare Winnicott Award, making decisions about bursary applications and participating in the Panel for bursaries for the Centre for Social Work Practice legacy fund. Members sit on the Editorial Board of the Journal and one of the co-editors, Gloria Kirwan, is ex officio a Trustee. Trustees support and run workshops.

With the increase in the number of trustees, including both practitioners and academics, the number attending has been good, while the proportion attending has fallen somewhat. Trustees are diligent about sending apologies for absences, and the Project Coordinator keeps in touch with members to understand the reasons and reduce restraining forces to attendance where possible.

(c) Website and social media

The website was discussed at the visioning meeting, as was GAPS’ limited use of social media to promote events, memberships and discussion. We agreed to provide short-term funding to someone who could help GAPS update its online presence, including the possible production of short videos. This is work in progress.

(d) Membership

Membership numbers have stabilised for the time being at around 270.

2. Events

(a) National conference

The conference, ‘Finding Hope in a Dark Place – stories of innovation and activism – reigniting the fire in our bellies’, took place on 3 November 2023 in Birmingham. It was the third hybrid conference, with a large online attendance and a smaller in-person presence.

Rich Devine and Tim Fisher, both children and family practitioners, gave the morning keynote in person, ‘The Transformative Power of Hope in Dark Places’, while Siobhan Maclean, a well-known writer about theory and practice, gave the afternoon keynote online, ‘If This Time’.

The format of the conference enabled participants to meet in discussion groups following each talk, returning for a plenary with questions and comments for the presenters. The discussion groups were facilitated by volunteers for whom GAPS provided brief training. Once again, invitations went to a number of universities to bring groups of students along with facilitators from their own academic staff. Students from these universities were allocated to mixed groups. Overall numbers were 170 including 29 in-person attendees.

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Group for the Advancement of Psychodynamics and Psychotherapy in Social Work

Chair's report

For the year ended 31 December 2023

(b) Workshops

Workshops are free for participants, and in 2023, four were held online and one in person:

Juliet Koprowska again led a closed group for social work practitioners: Exploring our Work Challenges as Social Workers using a Systems-Centered Approach. The group ran for ten x 75 minute sessions from January to May 2023 and were designed to enable practitioners to share their work challenges and see them in context.

The workshop evaluation forms that participants complete for all events are consistently positive and form a basis for our plans over the coming year. Members and others are invited to offer workshops that fit with GAPS’ remit, as workshops will continue to be offered, as well as a second closed group.

(c) Clare Winnicott Award (CWA) for students and practitioners 2023

An award was made only in the practitioner category this year. The winning essay will be published in the Journal of Social Work Practice in 2024.

3. Journal of Social Work Practice (JSWP)

In brief, the Journal continues to publish high quality papers and reach social workers in many parts of the world. Its impact has increased and open access articles in particular reach wide audiences.

Two general issues are published each year, and two special issues.

4. Developments and new ventures

5. Acknowledgments

GAPS is grateful to the Editors, Gloria Kirwan and Andrew Whittaker, under whose management the journal has gone from strength to strength.

The Treasurer, Nigel Elliott, died suddenly after a short illness on 10 February 2024. He had been Treasurer for more than 10 years, and made an invaluable contribution to GAPS’ financial stability. He worked closely with Hannah and Stephen, and wrote quarterly reports for the Trustee Board in which all financial matters were thoroughly explained, enabling the Board to make well-founded decisions. His warmth, kindness, and sense of justice informed everything that he did and he will be sadly missed.

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Group for the Advancement of Psychodynamics and Psychotherapy in Social Work

Chair's report

For the year ended 31 December 2023

Independent examiners

Godfrey Wilson Limited were re-appointed as independent examiners to the charity during the year and have expressed their willingness to continue in that capacity.

Approved by the trustees on 13 April 2024 and signed on their behalf by

Juliet Koprowska

Chair of the trustees

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Group for the Advancement of Psychodynamics and Psychotherapy in Social Work

Treasurer's report (incorporating financial review)

For the year ended 31 December 2023

Financial review

The summary annual accounts for 1 January to 31 December 2023 are presented at the end of this annual report. The accounts have been reviewed and approved by chartered accountants Godfrey Wilson Limited, as required by the Charity Commission.

The 2023 accounts were presented to trustees in January 2024, with a full written report and analysis from Hannah Pepper in consultation with Katharine Scanlan and on behalf of Nigel Elliott who for health reasons resigned as Treasurer in November 2023. The accounts were approved.

GAPS’s financial position remains strong. The main source of income is from royalties paid by Taylor and Francis, who publish the Journal of Social Work Practice under a licence agreement with GAPS, the owners of the Journal. In 2023 the royalty income amounted to £47,463, an increase from 2022 of £1,961. This represents a potentially positive trend as there had been a steady and slight fall in royalties over recent years, which is linked largely to how the Journal is read, with fewer hard copy sales, more online access and various package deals from amongst the publisher’s large portfolio of academic journals that they offer to institutional purchasers such as university libraries. Additionally, as an international journal, factors such as currency exchange rates can affect profitability. As a Journal in an international market, the Journal of Social Work Practice has a clear brand, a distinctive place in the market and is a strong performer, and Taylor and Francis express continuing confidence in it. The current contract with Taylor and Francis is due to end on 31 December 2024. A new contract to begin 1 January 2025 has been agreed. The new contract includes an increase in the editorial board expenses, continuity in terms of profit sharing arrangements, and the addition of a new category of GAPS member journal access via a limited number of non-academic organisations. The contract’s initial term is five years, with an additional three year renewal term (end of 2032).

Other sources of income include membership subscriptions, and interest payments. Interest payments have increased significantly due to the rise in interest rates. Whilst membership numbers have continued to increase there have been a significant number of leavers during the year along with a number of unresolved non-payments resulting in a shortfall against the budget set for the year. Changes in membership will be monitored throughout the coming year and any significant changes analysed accordingly. There were no fees for attendance at the Annual Conference in 2023; as in 2022 this was a ‘hybrid’ online and in-person event; non-members attending in-person paid a £28 fee, which served as GAPS membership for one year. In addition to the main cost centre GAPS holds the Journal Expenses cost centre and the CfSWP Legacy Fund cost centre.

The Journal Expenses cost centre holds the expenses paid by Taylor and Francis to the Editors and Editorial Board of the Journal of Social Work Practice now managed by GAPS. These expenses are disbursed solely at the discretion of the Editors and Board and amount to approximately £16,000 a year; the money currently held on account is augmented by accumulated unspent funds from previous years. The funds were brought into GAPS over 2019-2020 and this has supported greater transparency and is encouraging greater and more creative use of them by Board members. GAPS is in a purely administrative and reporting role in relation to these expenses and holds no responsibility for their disbursements.

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Group for the Advancement of Psychodynamics and Psychotherapy in Social Work

Treasurer's report (incorporating financial review)

For the year ended 31 December 2023

The CfSWP Legacy Fund cost centre holds the funds transferred from the Centre for Social Work Practice to GAPS in 2020. These were the residual funds held by CfSWP at the point when the charity was disbanded. It was the decision of the CfSWP trustees that these residual, or legacy, funds should be used to support bursaries in support of social work and that the process should be managed by GAPS, a charity closely aligned with CfSWP in its objectives and philosophy. The fund is restricted and has subsequently been disbursed collaboratively between GAPS and a panel comprising former trustees from CfSWP and representatives for GAPS trustees.

The first grants were approved during 2022 with two further grants approved during 2023 totalling £6,000. As there is to be no further income to the fund, energy will be focused on dispersing the fund effectively with further consideration given as to how best to promote applications to ensure the money is used as fully as possible and how and when to close the fund down. Grants approved in 2023 supported practitioners to set up a Family Advisory Board consisting of parents with lived experience to support the coproduction of children and family services. It is anticipated that plans will be put in place in 2024 to disburse the remaining funds and conclude the work by 2025.

The three cost centres managed by GAPS are clearly delineated and operationally ring fenced for internal accounting purposes. GAPS’s main funds, chiefly from royalties and membership subscriptions, are disbursed solely at the discretion of the GAPS trustees and are used for GAPS’s charitable ends. The CfSWP Legacy Fund is restricted, is disbursed through joint decision making between the fund’s panel and GAPS and is also used for charitable ends. The Journal of Social Work Practice fund is disbursed at the discretion of the Journal Board and Editors; while the Journal is a commercial enterprise, it is owned by GAPS and – subject to editorial independence – reflective of GAPS’s approach to social work practice and is thereby a major means of promoting GAPS’s objectives both nationally and globally.

The rest of this financial review will address the GAPS’s ‘cost centre’. GAPS has considerable accumulated funds arising from unspent income in previous years. The preference is to exceed the income received each year to eat into these accumulated funds and use them to meet GAPS’s charitable purposes.

GAPS main account (cost centre) Vs budget in 2023

The Summary of Accounts summarises all transactions across five income, and thirteen expenditure budget codes. The most significant of expenditure codes, Staffing Costs and Conference Costs were very slightly under budget. The 2023 accounts balanced income and expenditure overall as a result of underspend in certain areas, and under and over achievement of income in others is detailed below. However, the 2023 budget aimed at an overspend of £8,000 to reduce reserves. This aspiration was therefore not met. Expenditure: There was an overall underspend on core activities amounting to £7,250, arising for the large part from a lack of applications to the members bursary scheme, fewer than planned workshops taking place, and the reconsideration of the writing for the website scheme. Income: A decrease of £1,200 in membership fees against a rising budget, was more than offset by a £2,300 increase in interest on reserves due to rising bank interest rates.

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Group for the Advancement of Psychodynamics and Psychotherapy in Social Work

Treasurer's report (incorporating financial review)

For the year ended 31 December 2023

2023 has, as predicted, been a year of consolidation and rebalancing as new remote/online working initiatives are blended with more traditional in person approaches. The areas of underspend require further attention. The budget set for 2024 anticipates the implementation of the stalled Balint group along with additional workshops designed to promote the core function of GAPS. In the context of contracting funding for public services, GAPS is financially well placed to expand its reach. Plans are in place to achieve a greater online presence, provide further clarity for those writing for GAPS and additional guidance for those submitting essays for the Clare Winnicott Award. GAPS bursaries will continue to be promoted and trustees will be encouraged to access GAPS related developmental opportunities. In line with its long-term strategic vision and core purposes, GAPS will continue to pursue in-person activities alongside its online offering in a post-Covid-19 context in which the latter has become an established norm. The annual conference will build on the success of the in budget hybrid event held in Birmingham in 2023. All activities will be focused on connecting as effectively as possible with the GAPS membership and the wider social work profession, with a continuing emphasis on promoting relationship-based reflective practice.

All of the Charity Commission’s revised requirements have been complied with throughout the year and are clearly documented in the minutes of GAPS Trustee meetings and represented in operational practice. These include contracting for outside services, trustee conflicts of interest, fees paid to presenters and the placing of GAPS’s funds both to generate interest returns on investment along with ethical investments and banking. We continue to monitor our environmental footprint and are exploring how GAPS can contribute to the climate change debate and the contributions the social work profession can make towards environmental sustainability.

In conclusion, I would like to thank Hannah Pepper and Stephen Marsden for their attentive and skilful management of all aspects of GAPS’s finances and for their steady support and guidance as I take up the role of Treasurer. My thanks also to Juliet Koprowska, Chair of GAPS, who is always readily available for advice and consultation when making decisions on GAPS’s financial management, and the supportive and engaged participation of all the trustees.

On behalf of GAPS’s board of trustees, I would like to pay tribute to the enormous contribution Nigel Elliott made to GAPS in the role of Treasurer, as a long-serving, key member of the board, and as a persistently thoughtful, positive and supportive presence within GAPS.

Approved by the trustees on 13 April 2024 and signed on their behalf by

Katharine Scanlan Treasurer

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Independent examiner's report

To the trustees of

Group for the Advancement of Psychodynamics and Psychotherapy in Social Work

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Group for the Advancement of Psychodynamics and Psychotherapy in Social Work (the charity) for the year ended 31 December 2023, which are set out on pages 10 to 11.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

As the trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

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

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Date: 13 April 2024

Rob Wilson FCA

Member of the ICAEW

For and on behalf of:

Godfrey Wilson Limited

Chartered accountants and statutory auditors 5th Floor Mariner House 62 Prince Street Bristol BS1 4QD

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Group for the Advancement of Psychodynamics and Psychotherapy in Social Work

Receipts and payments account

For the year ended 31 December 2023

Receipts
Royalties
Editorial expenses income
Subscriptions
Bank interest
Other income
Total receipts
Payments
Staff costs
Journal expenses
GAPS national conference
Bursaries
Website
Workshop costs
Office costs
Governance expenses
Insurance
Independent examination and advice
Prizes
Sundry
CfSWP legacy fund grants & expenses
Total payments
Cash funds at 1 January 2023
Cash funds at 31 December 2023
Net receipts/(payments)		 Restricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
6,720
6,720
(6,720)
56,546
49,826		 Unrestricted
£
47,463
15,997
7,662
5,369
180
76,671
29,634
17,456
12,554
1,775
1,068
4,422
3,016
5,839
544
811
500
495
-
78,114
(1,443)
162,934
161,491		 2023
£
47,463
15,997
7,662
5,369
180
76,671
29,634
17,456
12,554
1,775
1,068
4,422
3,016
5,839
544
811
500
495
6,720
84,834
(8,163)
219,480
211,317		 2022
£
45,502
15,997
8,107
874
-
70,480
27,159
15,087
11,884
6,595
3,193
3,823
1,589
2,106
524
660
1,000
308
13,600
87,528
(17,048)
236,528
219,480

All receipts and payments in the prior year relate to unrestricted funds apart from the CfSWP legacy fund expenditure.

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Group for the Advancement of Psychodynamics and Psychotherapy in Social Work

Statement of assets and liabilities

As at 31 December 2023

As at 31 December 2023
Cash funds
Cash at bank and in hand
Total cash funds
Funds
Restricted funds
Unrestricted funds:
General funds
Total funds		 2023
£
211,317
211,317
49,826
161,491
211,317		 2022
£
219,480
219,480
56,546
162,934
219,480

Approved by the trustees on 13 April 2024 and signed on their behalf by

Juliet Koprowska Katharine Scanlan Chair of the trustees Treasurer

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