2023-03-31-accounts

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Company registration number: 02154503 Charity number: 519883

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

CONTENTS

	Pages
Company information	1
Report of the Trustees	2-13
Independent examiners’ report to the trustees	14
Statement of financial activities	15
Balance sheet	16-17
Notes to the financial statements	18-25
Detailed Statement of Financial Activities	26

1

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

Company information

Registered Company number 02154503 (England and Wales)

Registered Charity number 519883

Registered office 12 South Parade Wakefield West Yorkshire WF1 1LR

Trustees

M A Jones (resigned 31[st] March 2023) H M F Jones (resigned 1[st] October 2022) D Tolfrey (resigned 31[st] March 2023) S J Hagan * A Alker (resigned 31[st] March 2023) K Sheard C Allcock * C A Hudson * K Starkey * J P Fleming * (appointed 30[th] September 2022) C Mountain * (appointed 30[th] September 2022)

• Also directors of the company.

Accountants and Independent Examiner

Wheawill & Sudworth Limited Chartered Accountants 35 Westgate Huddersfield HD1 1PA

Bankers

HSBC Bank PLC 33 Park Row Leeds West Yorkshire LS1 1LD

Solicitors

Henry Hyams & Co Oxford House Oxford Row Leeds LS1 3BE

Chief Executive Officer

A Clow

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THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

The Trustees present their annual report and audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023.

The reference and administrative information set out on page 1 forms part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the Memorandum and Articles of Association and the Statement of Recommended Practice “Accounting and Reporting by Charities” revised in 2005.

Structure, Governance and Management

The Company is limited by guarantee and is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association. It is a Registered Charity, number 519883.

The Directors of the Company are listed on page 1 and are also members of the Board of Trustees. The Trustees are usually elected by the members of the Company, although some may be co-opted to meet particular requirements. There are two classes of Trustees; the first is made up of Trustees under 25 years of age who have been beneficiaries of The Association in the past (who may serve for a maximum of 4 years) and Trustees over the age of 25 years (who may serve for a maximum of 3 years and seek an optional further 3 years extension to their trusteeship to a maximum of 6 years in total).

The Trustees usually meet three monthly and no fewer than three times a year. They consider and agree a business plan and budget. Performance against them is considered at Trustees meetings, whereas operational performance is reviewed monthly. Detailed scrutiny of particular aspects of the Association’s performance is wholly devolved to Board sub-committees, viz finance and human resources. These systems of internal control are designed to ensure that the Board of Trustees (i) is completely engaged at a strategic level, (ii) is aware of the risks that the Company may face and (iii) is provided with reasonable, but not absolute, assurances against material misstatement or loss.

Risk Review

The Trustee Board has conducted its own review of the major risks to which the Charity is exposed and systems have been established to mitigate those risks. External risks to funding have led to the development of a strategic plan which will allow for the diversification of funding and activities. Internal risks are minimised by the implementation of procedures or authorisation of all transactions and projects to ensure consistent quality of delivery for all operational aspects of the charitable company. These procedures are annually reviewed to ensure that they still meet the needs of the Charity. Additionally, the Trustee Board have developed a risk analysis tool for the assessment of future ventures and review all risks (in terms of probability and potential impact) on an ongoing basis. This tool is used in conjunction with the Association’s risk register to maintain a ‛live’ record of actions taken to control the organisation’s significant risks.

The Board has created a Sub Group of its members, to which it delegates the day-to-day control of financial activity and operational risks. The Sub Group meets monthly, keeps minutes and reports to the Board. At each meeting the Sub Group receives full management accounts, including cash flow forecasts, income and expenditure accounts, forecast profit and loss accounts and a balance sheet. The Sub Group authorises and reviews all of the Association’s protocols and procedures, which control every aspect of the processes surrounding income and contracting, expenditure and purchasing, payroll, bank and tax reconciliation and financial reporting. All cheques and mandated expenditure require the signature of two out of four authorised signatories, at least one of which must be a member of the Board of Trustees.

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THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES (continued)

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Objectives and Activities

The principal activities of The Youth Association during the year continued to be to promote schemes for young people that encourage their potential and develop their physical, mental, economic and emotional well being. Our activities are open to all but focused on the needs and aspirations of young people living in some of poorest communities in Yorkshire. The trustees consider that through this work the charity is creating substantial public benefit through the practical support, educational activities and active citizenship it encourages amongst young people, engaging their families and the wider communities in which they live.

Ever since our founding in 1904, it has been the Association’s mission to grow Yorkshire’s future.

We do this by helping young people in Yorkshire to;

• Build their self-confidence and feel proud of themselves.

• Identify their goals and aspirations and make progress in achieving them.

• Start a business, get a job or get on a course.

• Meet new people, make new friends and have new experiences.

Our aims are always to;

• Deliver high quality services that young people say matter to them.

• Be experimental and innovative in the way we do things.

• Form partnerships and alliances with other organizations that share our mission and outlook.

• Stick to our long-standing principles and values about how our work should be done.

• Listen to young people and trust them, be there when they need us and never judge them.

We have published a detailed statement of our principles and our definition of good youth work, and this is also available to download from our website (www.youth-association.org).

Achievements and Performance

For the eighth year running, we have managed to develop our staff and take on new workers while managing to balance our income and expenditure and maintain a healthy balance sheet. The Association has continued to deliver outputs and outcomes that remain qualitatively of the highest standards and are still delivered primarily with some of the most disadvantaged young people in Yorkshire. We remain resolute in our strategy to seek only funding and resources that are aligned with our values and mission; we continue to pursue a future built on our core values and we are pleased to report that the focus on our unique approach and high-quality products which meet the needs and aspirations of young people continues to bear fruit. Our continuing long-term stable outlook bear out our optimism and belief in the power of good youth work.

The Trustees are proud of the work of our talented and committed staff team who have shown dedication, flexibility and skill in delivering such a variety of work with young people in many different communities. The Board are grateful for the support provided by students and volunteers, as well as the hundreds of young people who give their time to support their peers. Together they make our values and mission a reality for young people’s lives.

Throughout the year, we have continued successfully to operate a range of innovative projects in West and South Yorkshire, that play an important part in the lives of many hundreds of often vulnerable children and young people. Last year, we reported our planned intention to achieve a number of specific milestones and targets. Below, we have listed our evaluative report of those planned outcomes:

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THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES (continued)

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

• All of our contracted outcomes have been achieved. Specifically, for all individual funds over £25,000, our achievements have been;

StreetSmart Barnsley (Barnsley Council, South Yorkshire VRU and others)

Building on 15 years of concerted detached work that has covered almost every part of the Barnsley borough, we have been funded by Barnsley Council, South Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit, StreetGames, Yorkshire Sport Foundation and Sport England to work in the central area of the town. Our detached work has engaged 940 individual young people, organized a series of community events and has supported a wider effort to reduce youth violence in Barnsley. Our work has also developed an extra element, focused on young women’s empowerment through sports, as part of which a project focused on self-defence for young women. Multi-sports doorstep clubs have been running in 4 Ward areas, where young people have been engaging in regular activity blending sports and youth work.

Towards the back end of the year, we began a conversation with Barnsley Council about bring our StreetSmart initiative to the Northeast of the borough. Our application to Barnsley Council’s Northeast Area Team’s fund was successful and we received a 3-year grant to fund the work. We have since backed this up with a successful application to the Lottery for enhancement funds

StreetSafe and StreetVoice Leeds

During the last 9 years we have steadily been growing our detached work in East and South Leeds. With financial support from the National Lottery, Clarion Housing, Leeds Community Foundation, Leeds City Council and West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit, we have been able to deliver an average of 8 detached sessions per week across Halton Moor, Burmantofts, Richmond Hill, East End Park, Harehills and Killingbeck. Our detached youth work in Leeds was attended 3,481 times by 1,239 individual young people.

Our StreetSafe work, largely focussing on violence reduction, has made particularly strong progress, with large numbers of young people learning more about CCE, violence and drugs. Youth workers delivered 91 intensive and focussed StreetSafe workshops in outdoor spaces. Our team has also been working intensively with a small group of ethnically diverse young people, including those of Roma/Gypsy heritage. The team has been providing them with developmental opportunities beyond those offered in the street sessions.

Violence reduction through sports & arts

In 2022, West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit granted us £43,000 to deliver a pilot project – it sought to experiment using sports and arts as a vehicle through with to reduce youth violence. The programme involved working with young people referred from secondary schools in Leeds and Bradford. We undertook this as a partnership programme, working alongside three partner organisations and the team supported 88 young people throughout the programme.

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

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REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES (continued)

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Youth Work Training (National youth work bursary, Barnsley Council and VCSOs)

We continue to train youth work students in the community at scale. Training others and equipping them to deliver effective youth engagement and activity is an important route through which TYA can secure our mission and embed strong youth work values in the workforce of the future. Learners from around Yorkshire have taken part in the Level 2 and Level 3 Youth Work Practice training packages. While this was previously distance learning/blended training, most of the training this year has been delivered in person. In all, we trained 50 youth work students and provided placements for 4 youth work students on university courses.

Mental Health work

We have continued to build and grow our ‘mental health through youth work’ programme, through Future SELPH – our 16-25 project aimed at empowering young adults in Wakefield to overcome life challenges. We have been formally commissioned by Conexus to undertake the service ‘on an ongoing basis and have sought supplementary funding from UK Youth to support the development of our mental health package.

The long-term aim of this work is to establish a growth in resilience among young adults in Wakefield, underpinned by improved mental health, broadened ambitions and an increased capacity to overcome life challenges. We intend for this to contribute to a reduction in young adults requiring ongoing support from mental health services and a reduced reliance on support sought through crisis pathways. In 2022-23 we supported 107 young adults, who attended a total of 629 times. Of these, 55 completed a full 12-week group programme and 30 benefitted from one-to-one or short-term group support.

Tudor Trust

Since 2020, the Tudor Trust supported our long-term ambitions by helping us to sustain our Romafocused work in parts of South/West Yorkshire; we managed to grow our work in Barnsley and Leeds and sustain two at-risk projects in Doncaster and Bradford.

The Tudor Trust has now increased its impact on us by providing another three years’ worth of funds to help us experiment with, grow and sustain our young women’s empowerment work. The fund has allowed us to build the right networks, collate effective toolkits and provide support and training to the wider team. We now deliver three strands of young women’s empowerment work under the following themes

• Young women’s empowerment through sport

• Young women’s empowerment through drama and creative arts

• Young women’s empowerment in Roma communities.

Community development in rural Wakefield

Our work in the small community of Hall Green, Wakefield, has developed and grown in 2022/23. We secured funding through the National Lottery’s Queen’s Jubilee Fund to develop the work over two years (2022-24). The programme focus is community development through social action, where we empower young people to effect social change in their neighbourhood. We enable young people to take ownership of their local community and the under-used community centre.

We have expanded beyond the weekly session in the community centre into a second street-based session in neighbouring communities Painthorpe and Kettlethorpe. The two sessions per week gives us a regular focused group to work with and a wider opportunity to engage others.

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THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES (continued)

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Bradford detached

Through various funding programmes, Leeds Community Foundation enabled us to continue delivering our StreetVoice programme. StreetVoice’ seeks to develop multiple street forums for young people to voice issues of local concern, influence local decision making and deliver smallscale social action initiatives. The programme creates voice and influence opportunities for some of the most marginalised and disengaged young people, essentially reaching those who would not traditionally join their school council or Youth Parliament.

In Bradford, our teams have been supporting young people to run events over the year, including the Great Horton Community Awards event in summer 2022. Young people have also been painting murals at their local village hall. The funding has provided over 75 youth work sessions across two neighbourhoods and one school that have been attended over 1,062 times by 339 young people.

The Trustees are proud of the depth and focus of our work, combined with the high quality standards achieved. Overall, the Association worked with 6,234 named young people across our range of programmes and activities. The feedback that we have received from young people and partners bears testimony to the high regard in which the quality and integrity of our work is held. Our website continues to be an excellent showcase of our impact on the lives of young people and their communities and receives widespread praise from funders and partners as an example of how impact can be reported effectively; we intend to re-design our website in the coming year to enhance the impact of the stories young people showcase on it. We continued to provide accredited training for youth workers to an ever-increasing number of learners and we are now one of the leading providers of accredited youth work training in the north of England.

This year we continued to implement our strategy to develop innovative and transformational services based on our quality-driven ethos of good youth work, to raise the self-awareness, self-esteem, skills and aspirations of young people. Our offer continues to grow and attract investment and funding. In line with our strategy we pursued the following priorities.

Our plans and priorities

In the spring of 2021, we developed our latest organisational strategy, designed to steer us through to the summer of 2024. In summary we are continuing to move in the direction of travel that we started almost ten years ago, because it’s still working for us and the young people we serve. More than that, we are really seeing the investment we have already made in our planning starting to pay off in terms of the quality of our work and the growth in our resources.

Our mission is still relevant, because our young people and funding partners tell us so. Despite being over 100 years old at its core, our mission is probably more relevant and ‘current’ than it’s ever been. The pandemic was a strange time that threatens to cast a long shadow into the future of many young people; in the context of that uncertainty, we know that there will be new opportunities for good youth work to establish itself as a long-term part of the solution to the issues Covid-19 has raised. We aim to position ourselves to be leaders in finding and establishing those youth work solutions.

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THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES (continued)

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

We intend to make the remaining year of our current strategy one of real investment in the skills of our team and in our organisational learning as to ‘what works, what matters and what’s sustainable?’ Building on the new planning and personal development models we have already created, we believe that a renewed focus on theories of change, practice-lead innovation and proving impact in changing the things that young people tell us matter the most, will be the best platform for creating scalable youth work programmes for the future.

Reputation based on the quality of what we do remains our best marketing tool. We remain committed to sharing our learning, our practice and its impact as the best way to reinforce our credibility as leaders in our field, as well as the power of good youth work.

Our programme development priorities; report on this year and aims going forward

Expansion of our detached work

Detached youth work is our primary method and our ability to deliver at street-based level on issues that are not normally tackled successfully is our key USP.

We are convinced that making good on our commitment to develop outstanding programmes and youth work curricula that impact on the most pressing needs felt and voiced by young people we are already working with, will prove to be the best platform for expansion to other locations in the longer-term. Our priority remains to deepen our detached work in existing patches and locations and to build a controlled expansion around those areas by joining neighbouring work and filling youth work delivery gaps around where we already operate.

In the last year new funding has continued to strengthen our presence in most areas, with the exception of Doncaster. The local funding environment for Doncaster has made it difficult to attract funds that make a strategic expansion possible. Consequently, we have prioritized other areas of expansion and consolidation.

In large part, we consider this strategic objective to be delivered within the context of our existing strategy and we will re-assess our next phase of detached work expansion in our next 3-year plan.

StreetSafe

Using detached work to address knife crime and street violence has been a major area of learning and development for us in the last two years. While we have learned a lot during our early innovations of StreetSafe, there is still much more to do. Funding has poured into our work on this issue and we are keen to repay our existing funders with meaningful and lasting impact. A thoughtful and careful establishment of StreetSafe now as a programme and brand will reap rewards in future years.

Again, we consider this objective to be delivered. It is now a valued part of provision in Leeds, Bradford and Barnsley and key elements of learning from StreetSafe are now a routine part of our curriculum in all the areas we work. We have successfully refined our theory of change and logic models for StreetSafe and they are acknowledged by colleagues as being cutting-edge developments in this sphere of work.

Next year we will continue to develop exportable workshops and youth work curricula based on our learning that we can use wherever young people are dealing with the threats and risks of being on the street in their leisure time.

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

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REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES (continued)

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Good mental health through good youth work

In partnership with the NHS, the Future Selph programme has given us a real opportunity to test our theories and create a programme of activities and support that could be a game-changer in terms of the role youth work can play in primary mental health care. We have invested in expert training to make sure all our staff are mental health first aiders and we have worked closely with partners to build a working coalition of likeminded specialists to support and strengthen our offer.

Our mental health support programme, Selph, is now established and funded to work with young people in east Wakefield. We have guarantees that this funding will continue subject to the successful delivery of our model and we will look to expand our Selph offer next year. Next year we will consolidate our Selph offer in Wakefield and consider how we might take a support programme based on Selph to other areas.

StreetSmart

StreetSmart is our programme of linked and structured activities that enable young people to gain rigorous but informal accreditation of their ‘learning through doing’ with us. Although informal accreditation is not a current priority for funders, it does add structure to much of our work and help us to train and develop our own staff in new types of group work. It also enhances all of the funding bids we make where StreetSmart is an element.

Last year, we were funded to continue StreetSmart work in Leeds for another 3 years and this gave us the capacity to carry on experimenting with on-street training and informal accreditation in the ways we had hoped. Elements of StreetSmart are now embedded in all of our project work and the bids we write. There is still more to do to crystallize StreetSmart into a fully functioning scheme of informally and formally accredited work and this will continue to be a priority in 2023-24.

Co-production and involvement

We have a long and strong tradition in this field of work and it is increasingly becoming a mainstream priority for large scale grant funders who see ‘people in the lead’ and participant voice as key elements of any authentic person-centred project. We continue to aspire to establish co-production practices at the core of all our work, as well as seeking funding to act as co-production and involvement champions and enablers where possible. Co-production is a key factor in enabling us to create meaningful challenge and personal growth for young people. It is also written into our own constitution as an organisation.

Our ambassador group has continued to develop and they are in a position to respond positively to any proposals the Board puts forward in terms of our development discussions.

Last year, we developed a StreetVoice theory of change and logic model and next year we will look to establish ongoing programmes of involvement that will enable young people to develop their skills as young activists and change agents in their communities. We will encourage our ambassador group to formalise their involvement in the running of the Association into an advisory board of young people, from which young trustees will be elected.

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

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REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES (continued)

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Food distribution

Making sure people are fed has been a priority for us for some years; we discovered that hungry young people couldn’t concentrate on their work with us and their food poverty was an immediate barrier to their involvement. Over time, we have received more and more resources to help with this aspect of our work and the need for it doesn’t show any signs of abating. Food distribution per se is not a part of our mission, but as a method of youth work-based social action, (where young volunteers are in the lead of organising and distributing food), it is a real opportunity. It also helps to establish us as a trusted partner in the communities where we operate.

Food distribution, in many ways, has been disruptive to our summer work programmes and we are only committed to continuing this aspect of our work because it remains vital to some of the young people we work with. We have limited the contracting of food distribution to just Leeds in 2023-24, where the fit with our operations is the most supportive and least disruptive.

Going forward, food distribution will either be a social action project involving young people as volunteers and decision-makers or a strong fit to existing operational priorities. Our commitment to making sure young people are fed enough to participate meaningfully in our sessions will remain part of our process to deliver good youth work, regardless of specific food distribution funding.

Partnership development and bid leadership.

Recent years have seen us do well at attracting multi-year grant funding to roll out our work. We will carry on constructing bids for just TYA and we will train more of our team to be able to play a constructive part in such bid writing. Our analysis has shown that strategically more impactful resources could be made available to our work through joining and (where advantageous and advisable) leading larger-scale partnership bids for funds. We would only consider leading a partnership bid where the main or fundamental competence is the type of youth work we deliver.

Partnership discussions in Barnsley continue to move forward. Next year we will aim to continue our lead of the development of a new youth work partnership in the voluntary sector in Barnsley and to facilitate coordinated bidding for funds.

Youth work apprenticeships

The government is set to focus much of its skills agenda in terms of youth work on its chosen apprenticeship model. We know that engaging with the apprenticeship funding regimes as a training provider brings a level of complexity that is both hard to master and has the potential to cost much more in lost opportunity than it would bring to TYA. We will continue to deliver our existing training courses, funded by the bursary and by individuals and employers, and only where that training is substantively online and assessed at distance.

We are part of discussions with Leeds Beckett on the new apprenticeship degree, but it is unlikely that we would play any other part than placement host. We have no immediate intention to develop any involvement in apprenticeships, preferring to see the outcome of changes to the local skills agenda expected in the coming year.

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

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REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES (continued)

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Roma focused work

We are rightly proud of our achievements in recent years of gaining the trust of the Roma community and developing youth work with young Roma people. We will continue to support the Roma community whenever they live in communities and neighbourhoods that are the focus of our work; we may even prioritise areas that include significant numbers of Roma residents, precisely because of our prior learning of how best to serve their needs. We do not want to be seen as profiting from our relationship with Roma communities, so we will no longer be looking to create programmes that only seek to support Roma people as the primary reason for our involvement.

This year we have maintained our foothold in Hexthorpe and contact work with Roma young people in Bradford, but we will only continue this long-term where it fits with other youth work programmes we are pursuing locally and we will look to consolidate our existing work in Doncaster and Bradford with Roma young people next year.

Our organisational development priorities; report on this year and aims going forward

Staff training and development

Much of our strategic intent will be aimed at investing in our people. Greater productivity from all staff based on a clearer understanding of our planning methodology, our theories of change and logic models, a deeper grasp of youth work theory, well-constructed and tested youth work curricula and the confidence to self-direct and lead programmes and projects, will all be key to our success in growing our impact with young people. These things take time, effort and resources and can’t be delivered piecemeal. Our Portfolio of Excellence personal development programme aimed at front-line youth work staff and based on our own youth work DNA planning model is now well-established. Our first two PoE graduates completed last year and we will continue to encourage engagement in the scheme and next year will see more colleagues complete and progress.

Last year we supported colleagues to take a lead in the oversight and development of curriculum areas and specialities. We will continue to embed these new leadership roles next year and encourage all staff to develop specialisms.

Board recruitment

Last year, we supported the smooth handover of Chair from Maggie Jones to the then Vice-chair, Clare Allcock and we brought in two new trustees to help bridge the gaps created by the routine stepping-down of some of our most experienced trustees. Our aim will be to recruit a further two trustees this year and four young trustees; staggered recruitment will help cushion the impact of term-end standing down in the future.

Ambassador trustees

Our constitution requires two eligible young people from our ambassador group to be elected as young trustees to the Board each year. The pandemic made this a challenge, so we will schedule plenty of training and support activities each month, on a rolling programme, to maintain a strong presence of young service users on our trustee Board.

Our Leeds, Barnsley, Bradford and Wakefield programmes have committed young people who are already playing a strong participative role in directing their own work. We are experimenting with different engagement models for a ‘core’ ambassador group and we remain confident in being able to hold trustee elections this year and to create a ‘shadow board’ of young ambassadors to advise the trustees and provide a training ground for our next generation of young trustees.

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

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REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES (continued)

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Succession of leadership planning

In 2024-25, our CEO since 1999, Andy Clow, will be retiring from his role. As part of our succession strategy the current Operations Director, Dmitry Fedotov, has been selected as his successor and Andy and Dmitry will continue to follow a managed process of experience-based mentoring and development to ensure the handover of leadership is as seamless as possible.

Dmitry and Andy have agreed a detailed plan of training and mentoring that extends to the 3[rd] Quarter of 2024. Our development model is based on a schedule of teach/show, then perform observed/supported, followed by perform independently on a range of 16 areas for development. We are on target in our work in this area. We will continue to implement a planned programme of mentoring and training in line with our 3- year handover profile.

Middle management capacity

As Dmitry moves up, there will be a vacuum in terms of support for the role he currently provides. Stepping up while maintaining much of his existing role is not tenable and we will be looking to encourage our own talent to step forward and take on some of that challenge. Like our Portfolio of Excellence, we will be creating a first and second level management training pathway for staff that have achieved the portfolio. While external recruitment of a new Operations Director is always an option, growing our own is always our first-choice preference to maintain our strong organisational culture.

The encouraging take-up of our Portfolio of Excellence programme last year means that three staff members have moved on to management training, which was our target. We also introduced a mentoring scheme for all staff members, delivered by our senior management and the Chair. Next year we will identify the specific skill gaps and middle management roles we need to fill in the medium-term and assess the capacities, potential and ambitions of our youth work staff to meet them, along with the specific development and support they need to get there.

Financial Review

We are pleased to report that we grew the level and range of our income and achieved a moderate surplus. We hoped to maintain and diversify our income base this year and we have done so. The Trustees are confident that our managed cost base and new and emerging funding streams will continue to provide financial stability and sustainability for the future. We will aim to return a break-even balance in 2023-24, but it is our intention to use some of our development fund to invest in the fabric of our office base and to make it more energy efficient. Overall, our income increased by 36.4% (£188,976) while our expenditure increased by 28.2% (£146,597).

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

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REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES (continued)

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Reserves Policy

The Association carries out a variety of long- and short-term projects. The Trustee Board have examined the requirements of free reserves which are those unrestricted funds not invested in fixed assets, designated for specific purposes or otherwise committed. The Board considers that such free reserves should be equal to the sum necessary to suspend or terminate the Association’s activities over a period of 4 months, which equates to £221,279 in general funds; this figure has been increased since last year to reflect the recent increases in staffing and operations and reflects the uncertainties and challenges that Covid brought. The Board has decided to designate a Reserves and Development Fund that will include both general reserves and other free general funds that will be used to develop the Association’s work in line with our strategic mission. At the end of 2022-23, the value of the Reserves and Development Fund was £251,576 an increase of £51,775 from last year. The Board continues to oversee an ongoing and managed process of cost control in all projects and administrative support functions of the Association, which should provide a platform for stability in the medium-term and the growth of development funds in future years.

Trustees’ Responsibilities for the Financial Statements

Company and charity law require the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs and financial activities of the Charity for that period. In preparing those financial statements the Trustees are required to:

• Select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently;

• Make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• State whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and

• Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume the charity will continue in operation.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy the financial position of the Charity at any time and to 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 hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Statement as to Disclosure of Information to Independent Examiner

So far as each of the Trustees at the date of this report is aware:

• There is no relevant accounting information of which the company’s Independent Examiner is unaware; and

• The Trustees have taken all steps which they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant accounting information and to establish that the Independent Examiner is aware of that information.

Independent Examiner

The Independent Examiner, Wheawill & Sudworth, will be considered for re-appointment at the forthcoming meeting of the Board of Trustees in March 2024.

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

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REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES (continued)

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Approval

The report of the members of the Board of Trustees was approved on 26 October 2023 and signed on their behalf by:

………………………………..

C Allcock Chair

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF

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THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

I report on the accounts of the company for the year ended 31 March 2023 which are set out on pages 15 to 26.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The trustees (who are also the directors of the company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

Having satisfied myself that the charity is not subject to audit under company law and is eligible for independent examination, it is my responsibility to:

• examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act;

• follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act; and

• state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner's report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a “true and fair view” and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent examiner's statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

• 1 which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the requirements:

• to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Act and section 386 of the Companies Act 2006; and

• to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records, comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the Companies Act 2006 and with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities

have not been met; or

• 2 to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

D M Butterworth

Wheawill & Sudworth Limited Chartered Accountants 35 Westgate Huddersfield HD1 1PA 26 October 2023 THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

15

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

		Unrestricted	Unrestricted	Unrestricted
		General		Designated	Restricted			Total		Total
		Funds		Funds		Funds		Funds		Funds
	Notes	2023		2023		2023		2023		2022
		£		£		£		£		£
INCOMING RESOURCES
Incoming resources from generated	funds
Voluntary income	2	-		-		-		-		-
Incoming resources from
charitable activities	3
Charitable activities		621,892		-		85,749		707,641		518,665
		──────	──────		──────		──────		──────
Total incoming resources		621,892		-		85,749		707,641		518,665
		──────	──────		──────		──────		──────
RESOURCES EXPENDED
Charitable activities	4
Support services		181,086		3,533		-		184,619		145,785
Youth activities		386,468		-		90,668		477,136		369,336
Administration and fundraising		103		-		-		103		140
Governance costs	5	1,980		-		-		1,980		1,980
		──────	──────		──────		──────		──────
Total resources expended		569,637		3,533		90,668		663,838		517,241
		──────	──────		──────		──────		──────
Other operating income
Release of grant		-		-		4,919		4,919		4,919
Profit on disposal of tangible asset		5,280		-		-		5,280		-
		──────	──────		──────		──────		──────
NET INCOMING/(OUTGOING)
RESOURCES	6	57,535		(3,533)		-		54,002		6,343
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward		278,472		197,604		-		476,076		469,733
		──────	──────		──────		──────		──────
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED
FORWARD		336,007		194,071		-		530,078		476,076
		══════	══════		══════		══════		══════

16

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

BALANCE SHEET

AS AT 31 MARCH 2023

		Unrestricted	Unrestricted
		General	Designated		Restricted			Total		Total
		Funds	Funds			Funds		Funds		Funds
	Notes	2023	2023			2023		2023		2022
		£	£			£		£		£
FIXED ASSETS
Tangible assets	10	84,430		194,071		24,546		303,047		305,739
Investments	11	1		-		-		1		1
		──────	──────		──────		──────		──────
		84,431		194,071		24,546		303,048		305,740
		──────	──────		──────		──────		──────
CURRENT ASSETS
Debtors	12	135,897		-		-		135,897		42,271
Cash at bank and in hand		183,748		-		-		183,748		187,552
		──────	──────		──────		──────		──────
		319,645		-		-		319,645		229,823
CREDITORS
Amounts falling due within one
year	13	(68,069)		-		(4,919)		(72,988)		(34,941
		──────	──────		──────		──────		──────
NET CURRENT ASSETS		251,576		-		(4,919)		246,657		194,882
		──────	──────		──────		──────		──────
TOTAL ASSETS LESS
CURRENT LIABILITIES		336,007		194,071		19,627		549,705		500,622
CREDITORS
Amounts falling due after one year	14	-		-		(19,627)		(19,627)		(24,546
							──────		──────
NET ASSETS		336,007		194,071		-		530,078		476,076
		══════	══════		══════		══════		══════
FUNDS	15
Unrestricted funds								530,078		476,076
Restricted funds								-		-
							──────		──────
TOTAL FUNDS								530,078		476,076
							══════		══════

For the year ended 31 March 2023 the company was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

Directors' responsibilities:

• The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476; and

• The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts.

These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime and with the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (effective January 2015).

17

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

BALANCE SHEET (continued)

AS AT 31 MARCH 2023

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees on 26 October 2023 and were signed on its behalf by:

………………………………….

C Allcock Chair

Company registration number: 02154503

18

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

1 Accounting policies

General information and basis of preparation

The charitable company constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS102. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued on 16 July 2014 (as updated through Update Bulletin 1 published on 2 February 2016), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006 and UK Generally Accepted Practice as it applies from 1 January 2015.

The financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis under the historical cost convention.

The significant accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all years presented unless otherwise stated.

The charity adopted SORP (FRS102) in the period ended 31 March 2016. No transitional adjustments were required resulting from this and there were no consequential changes in accounting policies.

Consolidation

In the opinion of the Trustees, the company and its subsidiary undertaking comprise a small group. The company has therefore taken advantage of the exemption provided by section 398 of the Companies Act 2006 not to prepare group accounts.

Incoming resources

Voluntary income including donations, gifts, legacies and grants that provide core funding or are of general nature are recognised where there is entitlement, certainty of receipt and the amount can be measured with sufficient reliability. Such income is only deferred when:

• the donor specifies that the grant or donation must only be used in future accounting periods; or

• the donor has imposed conditions which must be met before the charity has unconditional entitlement.

Income from commercial trading activities is recognised as earned (as the related goods are provided).

Government grants of a revenue nature are recognised in the period to which they relate.

The subsidiary’s trading profits are recognised as income on receipt of the related gift aid donation.

Investment income is recognised on a receivable basis.

Volunteers and donated services and facilities

The value of services provided by volunteers has not been included in these financial statements. Further details of the contribution made by volunteers can be found in the Trustees’ annual report.

Where services are provided to the Charity as a donation that would normally be purchased from our suppliers, this contribution is included in the financial statements at an estimate based on the value of the contribution to the Charity.

19

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

1 Accounting policies (continued)

Resources expended

Expenditure is recognised on an accrual basis as a liability and is incurred inclusive of irrecoverable VAT.

Costs of generating funds comprise the costs associated with attracting voluntary income and the costs of fundraising activities.

Governance costs include those costs associated with meeting the constitutional and statutory requirements of the Charity and include the audit fees and costs linked to the strategic management of the Charity.

All costs are allocated between the expenditure categories of the Statement of Financial Activities on a basis designed to reflect the use of the resource. Costs relating to a particular activity are allocated directly, others are apportioned on an appropriate basis e.g. time spent, estimated usage or proportionate to income generated.

Intangible fixed assets

Website costs are amortised in equal instalments over 3 years being their estimated useful economic life.

Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. The costs of minor additions or those costing below £100 are not capitalised. Depreciation is provided at a rate calculated to write off the cost of each asset over its estimated useful life as follows:

Freehold land	- 1% straight line
Leasehold property	- 10% straight line
Fixtures and equipment	- 20% reducing balance
Electrical and computer equipment	- 20% straight line
Motor vehicles	- 14% straight line

Stock

Stocks are stated at direct cost or net realisable value if lower.

Pension commitments

The company has a defined contribution pension scheme and the costs of contributions made by the company is charged in the accounts as incurred.

Leasing commitments

Rentals applicable to operating leases are charged to the SOFA over the period in which the cost is incurred.

Funds structure

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the Charity. Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the Trustees for particular purposes. Restricted funds are subject to restrictions on their expenditure imposed by the donor or through the terms of an appeal.

20

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

1 Accounting policies (continued)

Company status

The charity is a company limited by guarantee. The members of the company are the Trustees named on page 1. In the event of the charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £10 per member of the charity.

Financial instruments

Financial instruments are classified and accounted for, according to the substance of the contractual arrangement, as financial assets, financial liabilities or equity instruments. An equity instrument is any contract that evidences a residual interest in the assets of the company after deducting all of its liabilities.

		2023	2022
2	VOLUNTARY INCOME	£	£
	Donations	-	-
		══════	══════
3	INCOMING RESOURCES FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES	2023	2022
		£	£
	Activity
	Training	37,120	56,423
	Helping young people to participate	96,999	35,816
	Youth work	573,522	426,426
		──────	──────
		707,641	518,665
		══════	══════
		2023	2022
4	CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES COSTS	£	£
	Support services	184,619	145,785
	Youth activities	477,136	369,336
	Administration and fundraising	103	140
		──────	──────
		661,858	515,261
		══════	══════

21

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued)

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

		2023	2022
5	GOVERNANCE COSTS	£	£
	Examiner remuneration	1,980	1,980
		══════	══════
6	NET INCOMING/(OUTGOING) RESOURCES
		2023	2022
	Net resources are stated after charging/(crediting):	£	£
	Examiner remuneration	1,980	1,980
	Depreciation – owned assets	9,466	11,280
		══════	══════

7 TRUSTEES’ REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS

Trustees’ Expenses

	Trustees’ Expenses
	Trustees’ travel expenses for the year ended 31 March 2023 were £Nil	(2022: £Nil).
8	STAFF COSTS	2023	2022
	The aggregate labour costs were:	£	£
	Salaries and wages	431,691	353,368
	Sub-contractor costs	11,250	-
	Social security costs	35,576	30,489
	Pension contributions	38,636	33,492
		──────	──────
		517,153	417,349
		══════	══════
	The average number of employees during the year was as follows:
		Number	Number
	Number of staff	20	18
	Employees earning more than £60,000 per annum:	1	1
	Between £60,000 and £70,000	1	1
		══════	══════

9 PENSION COSTS

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund. The pension cost charge represents contributions payable by the charity to the fund and amounted to £38,636 (2022: £33,492).

22

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023 (continued)

10	TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS	Freehold	Leasehold	Fixtures
		property	Property	and fittings
		£	£	£
	REVALUATION/COST
	At 1 April 2022	353,261	31,129	30,903
	Additions	-	-	-
	Disposals	-	-	-
		────── ──────		──────
	At 31 March 2023	353,261	31,129	30,903
		────── ──────		──────
	DEPRECIATION
	At 1 April 2022	85,492	31,129	27,031
	Charge for the year	3,533	-	774
	On disposals	-	-	-
		────── ──────		──────
	At 31 March 2023	89,025	31,129	27,805
		────── ──────		──────
	NET BOOK VALUE
	At 31 March 2023	264,236	-	3,098
		══════ ══════		══════
	At 31 March 2022	267,769	-	3,872
		══════ ══════		══════
		Motor	Computer
		Vehicles Equipment		Totals
		£	£	£
	COST
	At 1 April 2022	55,619	45,749	516,661
	Additions	-	10,307	10,307
	Disposals	(21,185)	-	(21,185)
		────── ──────		──────
	At 31 March 2023	34,434	56,056	505,783
		────── ──────		──────
	DEPRECIATION
	At 1 April 2022	26,104	41,166	210,922
	Charge for the year	4,919	3,773	12,999
	On disposals	(21,185)	-	(21,185)
		────── ──────		──────
	At 31 March 2023	9,838	44,939	202,736
		────── ──────		──────
	NET BOOK VALUE
	At 31 March 2023	24,596	11,117	303,047
		══════ ══════		══════
	At 31 March 2022	29,515	4,583	305,739
		══════ ══════		══════

Freehold property was valued on 9 November 2011 by Holroyd Miller Chartered Surveyors at £300,000 on an open market basis with vacant possession and the carrying value in the accounts was revalued accordingly.

23

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023 (continued)

The trustees consider the current net book value of £264,236 to be an appropriate valuation as at the balance sheet date.

As at 31 March 2023 the net book value of freehold property under the historical cost accounting rules would be £206,092 (2022: £208,605).

11 FIXED ASSET INVESTMENTS

FIXED ASSET INVESTMENTS
	Shares in
	group
	undertakings
COST	£
At 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023	1
	──────
NET BOOK VALUE
At 31 March 2023	1
	══════
At 31 March 2022	1
	══════

The company owns 100% of the issued share capital of Youth Trade Limited. The aggregate of Youth Trade Limited’s capital and reserves at 31 March 2023 was £1 (2022: £1). Youth Trade Limited was dormant throughout the year.

12	DEBTORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR	2023	2022
		£	£
	Grants and funding receivable	130,607	38,693
	Prepayments and accrued income	5,290	3,578
		──────	──────
		135,897	42,271
		══════	══════
13	CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR	2023	2022
		£	£
	Trade creditors	19,987	2,587
	Amounts owed to group undertakings	1	1
	PAYE/NI	8,683	7,922
	Other creditors	-	32
	Accruals and deferred income	2,936	2,030
	Grants and funding in advance	36,462	17,450
	Capital grant	4,919	4,919
		──────	──────
		72,988	34,941
		══════	══════

24

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023 (continued)

14	CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE AFTER ONE YEAR	2023	2022
		£	£
	Capital grant	19,627	24,546
		══════	══════

15 MOVEMENT IN FUNDS

MOVEMENT IN FUNDS
		Net
		movement
	At 1.4.22	in funds	At 31.3.23
	£	£	£
Unrestricted funds
General fund	278,472	57,535	336,007
Designated fund	197,604	(3,533)	194,071
	──────	──────	──────
TOTAL FUNDS	476,076	54,002	530,078
	══════	══════	══════

Net movement in funds included in the above are as follows:

		Incoming	Resources	Movement
		Resources	Expended	in funds
		£	£	£
Unrestricted funds
General fund		627,172	569,637	57,535
Designated fund		-	(3,533)	(3,533)
Restricted fund		85,749	(85,749)	-
		──────	──────	──────
TOTAL FUNDS		712,921	(658,919)	54,002
		══════	══════	══════
cluded within general funds are the following:
	Balance	Movement		Balance
	1.4.22	in funds	Transfers	31.3.23
	£	£	£	£
General funds	217,327	57,535	737	275,599
Revaluation reserve	61,145	-	(737)	60,408
	──────	──────	──────	──────
	278,472	57,535	-	336,007
	══════	══════	══════	══════

Included within general funds are the following:

25

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023 (continued)

	Balance	Incoming	Resources		Balance
	1.4.22	resources	expended	Transfers	31.3.23
	£	£	£	£
New Building Fund	197,604	-	(3,533)	-	194,071
	──────	──────	──────	──────	──────
	197,604	-	(3,533)	-	194,071
	══════	══════	══════	══════	══════

16 DESIGNATED FUNDS

Included within general fund are the following amounts that have been designated by trustees.

The new building fund was designated to the maintenance of the head office of the Association.

17 CONTROLLING PARTY

The charity is controlled by the Trustees. No one Trustee has ultimate control.

26

THE YOUTH ASSOCIATION

DETAILED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

INCOMING RESOURCES	2023	2022
	£	£
Voluntary Income
Donations	-	-
	──────	──────
	-	-
Incoming resources from charitable activities
Helping young people to participate	96,999	35,816
Youth work	573,522	426,426
Training	37,120	56,423
	──────	──────
	707,641	518,665
	──────	──────
Total incoming resources	707,641	518,665
	──────	──────
RESOURCES EXPENDED
Charitable activities
Client support	477,136	369,336
Accommodation	18,764	14,719
Office services	13,848	7,910
Central management	152,007	123,156
Bank charges	103	140
	──────	──────
	661,858	515,261
Governance costs
Examiner remuneration	1,980	1,980
	──────	──────
Total resources expended	663,838	517,241
	──────	──────
Other operating income
Release of grant	4,919	4,919
Profit on disposal of tangible asset	5,280	-
	──────	──────
	10,199	4,919
	──────	──────
Net income	54,002	6,343
	══════	══════