CHILDREN'S LAW CENTRE (NORTHERN IRELAND) TRUSTEES. REPORT (INCLUDING DIRECTORS. REPORT) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024 The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024. The financial statements have been prepared in aGGordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the Companies Act 2006 and '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) (effective 1 January 20191" Objectives and activities The Children's Law Centre (CLC) was established to help children and young people in need and to promote their human rights in Northern Ireland. CLC provides legal infomiation, advice, advocacy. assistance and represenlation for children and young people, their parents and carers and others working with and on behalf of children and young people. We raise public awarenes5 of children and young people's rights and provide Iraining to children. parents and carers and others working with and on behalf of children and young people. CLC gives a voice to children by facilitating and supporting a children and young person's advisory and peer advocacy group, Youlh@CLC. In partnership wilh Youth@CLC we raise children and young people's rights with duty bearers. The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake. Achievements and perfomiance The environment in which Children's Law Centre operated in 202&24 has continued lo be challenging. CLC continued to deal with multiple issues of denial of children's rights as a result of actions taken by duty holders including in response lo the Covid pandemic. The situation was further aggravated by the ongoing impact of Brexit, the absence of the devolved administration in this jurisdiction and the continuing socio-economic crisis resulting in cuts to children's servIs. This convergence also impaded on availability of funding to the voluntary and community sector from statutory sources wilh the knock-on effect increasing competition for funding from Trusts and Foundations. The impact on need was reflected in the number of issues we dealt with through our CHALKY freephone legal advice line hitting 2.980 which was an increase of 9 % on the previous year. 900A of issues were assessed as 'Tier 1, and focused on disabilily in education, access to health and social care, family law. human rights and justice issues. The continuing denials of service for children wilh special education needs and disability continued to be a focus of our 'fier 2. inteNentions, along with access to health and social care with particular emphasis on respite and community care support. We found particularly over the year that the increasing complexity of issues has required much more input from our legal and advice staff in order to achieve solutions for children. There were 29,612 messages received on CLC'S REE Rights Responder chatbol with 11,265 users engaging in 11,714 sessions. 81 people requested a REE Live Chat. The chatbol, which was CO•designed with ourYouth@CLC panel of young people continue5 to provide anonymised access to free legal information. This year we have been working with young people and with volunteer support from Pricewalerhousecoopers Belfast supported by a grant from Allen and Overy Belfast. to develop an 'Edu¢ation and Disability, information strand for REE. The work on the new REE strand will be completed in the remainder of 2024 and will launch in January 2025. During the year we have been working with Amnesty International, Committee on the Administration of Justice and Include Youth to challenge the use of spil and bite hoods and the use of strip searching of children by the Police Service Nl. This work resulted in the Northern Ireland Policing Board {NIPB} instructing ils Human Rights Advisor to conduct a review of strip searching of children benchmarked against human rights legislation. CLC was specifically recognised in the report published in June 2023. The NIPB Report made 10 recommendations induding Iwo to update guidance on PACE legislation. Following publicalion of the Nl Budget 2023-24 in April, CLC issued correspondence to the Secretary of Slate (Sos) for Nl outlining equality and human rights concerns. The letter was endorsed by over 200 organisations and academics. The Sos's response lo the letter raised further concerns and led CLC to apply for judicial review of the process undertaken by the Sos, the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) and Department of Finan (DOF) when setting the budget. The Equality Commission Nl (ECNI) were later joined to the proceedings. In January 2024 CLC was granted leave to proceed to a full hearing against the NIO, DOF and ECNI which was scheduled for May 2024. The case has not yet concluded although it has progressed.
CHILDREN'S LAW CENTRE (NORTHERN IRELAND) TRUSTEES. REPORT (INCLUDING DIRECTORS. REPORT) (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024 In May 2023 we supported a group of young people to travel to Geneva for the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child examination of the UK and devolved government's implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This followed the submission of CLC'S Nl NGO Slakeholder Report and Young Person's Reports to the UN Committee in Deomber 2022. The UNCRC Committee's Concluding Observations and Recommendations, which were published in June 2023, reflected many of the issues identified in our reports. This included a recommendation thal "the Secretary of State frjr Northern Ireland withdraw the budget for Nl for the period 2023-24 and fully consider the equality and human rights implications for a new budget, taking all possible steps lo mitigate any adverse impart on children's rights before issuing a revised budget.. In support of the publication of the Concluding Observations report CLC embarked on a series of significant engagements throughout the autumn to raise awareness of the UNCRC Concluding Observations and Recommendations. This included a conference for children and young people-'Rights Here, Right Now'_ at Ulster University in September, a seminar directed at duty holders and politicians al the Long Gallery. Parfiament Buildings in October and culminated in our Annual Lecture in November at the Bar Library which was provided by Bragi Guobrandsson. Vice Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Mr Guobrandsson also engaged in a series of meetings with duty holders, the judiciary and young people in the iwo days prior to the lecture. With the provision of live streaming this was CLC'S highest attended Annual Lecture. With South Tyrone Empowemient Project (STEP) we continued to research issues impacting refugee and asylum- seeking children in contingency and dispersal accommodalion. This has led to direct engagement with families through our legal advice and advocacy services including one judicial review undertaken on behalf of a disabled child. We succeeded in securing an investigation into the condition's children are living in and safeguarding concèrns. The work has also involved engaging at Ministerial, Permanent Secretary and Non-Departmental Public Body CEO level. We continue to engage with colleagues through the Child Law Network to ensure complementarity on this work across the UK. We completed our joint research with the Dublin based Children's Righls Alliance. The report 'Listen Upl Children's Voices on the Future - Consultation wilh Children ar)d Young People on Children's Rights on the Island of Ireland: Responding to the Uncertainty of Brexit and Beyond was published in April 2024. A number of cases were successfully completed including: Securing a resolulion with the Edupalion Authority (EA) for its failure to provide school transport to a statemented child with special educational needs with transport being provided. A successful outcome in a Judicial Review (JR) against the Home offi and Mears Housing for their failure to provide disability accessible accommodation to a severely disabled Child. Resolution was reached when the Home Office granted the family indefinite leave to remain and they moved to suitable ac¢ommodation. A successful resolution to litigalion in relation to two minor applicants, claims for damages against a health trust for ils failure to provide them with respile care. CLC submitted a Ihird-party inteTvention in a JR of the Departrnenl of Heallh relating to the issue of parental consent for Covtd vacanation for children. CLC'S intervention assisted the Court in reaching a favourable oulcome from a children's rights perspective. Wilh the return of the Nl Assembly in February 2024 CLC'S expertise in children's rights to education, special education needs, health and social care. mental health and housing were in much demand. Following an invitation to provide evidence to the Education Committee on special educational needs and disability {SEND) in March we produced hvo subslantive briefings on SEND and another on the Children's Services Co-operation Act 2015 prior to attendance and evidence giving. The Committee expressed their thanks for the briefings and were highly receptive to the evidence session which included. with their consent. an overview of one young client's lived experience in trying to access education support when transferring to post-primary school. This resulted in a request from the Commtttee to meet the young client and hear their story first-hand. This subsequently took place in May 2024.
CHILDREN'S LAW CENTRE (NORTHERN IRELAND) TRUSTEES, REPORT (INCLUDING DIRECTORS. REPORT) (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024 other Assembly engagements have included meetings with the Chair of the Health Committee and we were invited to give evidence to Ihe Executive Committee alongside the Human Righls Consortium on the need for additional rights protections in Northem Ireland. Throughout the suspension of the Assembly CLC conlinued to engage with political parties and individual representatives including MLAS and MPS. Policy consultation responses have included.. Department of Education's Consultation on Draft Statutory Guidance on the Redudion and Management of Restrictive Practices in Educational Settings: Department of Education's Consultation on Relationship and Sexuality Education; Department of Health's Consultation on the recommendations of the Independent Review of Children's Social Care Services- Equality Impact Assessments of the 2023-24 budgets for Department of Health, Department of Education and The Executive Office; and Nl Policing Board's Engagement Strategy. All of our consultalion responses, briefing and position papers can be found at htt 5'.Ilchildrenslawcenlre.or .ukl consultation-res onsesl. In addition to the above we prepared and circulated a briefing note outlining our concerns related to the equality and human right5 implications for children and young people of the Nl Budget 2023-24 and the prOsS by which it was arrived at, for the Second Reading of the Nl Budget (No2) Bill in the House of Commons. CLC continues to work at a local, UK, all-lreland and EU level including wilh the Child Law Network and Civil Society Alliance on the threat to the Human Rights Act, with the Child Rights Alliance in Dublin on the impact of Brexit on the rights of children across Ireland and human rights protections in the Good Friday Agreement, and with Rights of the Child Alliance UK on implementation of the UNCRC. We are also working in partnership wilh STEP on breaches of the rights of refugee and asylum-seeking children as they relate to edu¢alion, health and housing in particular. There is a particular focus in this work on asylum-seeking children in contingency and dispeTsal accommodation. Following a successful application to the Dormant Accounts Fund we recruited a Training and Engagement C ordinator to deliver regular programmes of training with input from our Legal and Policy and Public Affairs Teams. We have also engaged in the development of tiaining programmes delivered in partnership with allied organisations. We conlinue to investigate new ways to maintain engagement posl-training. We are working to extend the organisation's reach including with parents and community groups. Response to initial training programmes in the third and final quarters of the year have been extremely positive and we look forwaTd to further development of the offers in the coming year. Our digital communicalions reach has continued to grow with over 75,000 visits to our website. almost 700 new followers on X and 350 new followers on Facebook. The additional numbers accessing and linking into our social media also act as a conduit for our policy and public affairs work enabling the sharing of ¢onsullation Tesponses. reports, training and events, and generally keeping our supporters up to date with the issues we are working on to improve the lives of children. We are graleful to our Youth@CLC members who have worked closely with us on securing and raising awareness of the UNCRC Concluding Observations, the young people's conference in September and the seminar al the Long Gallery in October. They have also assisted in the recruitments for our Training and Engagement Co-ordinator, and most recently a new Trainee Solicitor who is funded through the Legal Education Foundation Justice First Fellowship. Without an active Youth Participation and Advocacy Worker IYPAW) this has been a challenging time but our Communications and Marketing Manager, Training and Engagement Co-ordinator and Policy and Public Affairs team have all given their time to continue to support Youth@CLC. At the time of writing we are recruiting a new YPAW following a surxessful application to the National Lottery Community Fund.
CHILDREN'S LAW CENTRE (NORTHERN IRELAND) TRUSTEES. REPORT (INCLUDING DIRECTORS, REPORTI (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024 Following our organisational review in 2021-22 we have continued to develop our work on implementing the stralegic plan 2022-25 with the developmenl of operational and team plans, complemented by updating our approach to one-to-ones. We will continue to review implementation with a particular focus on how approaches may be improved as we work toward our next strategic planning cycle al the end of 2024. We undertook and completed a salary and benchmarking exercise which demonslraled with the exception of some role anomalies that CLC, when compared with other similar organisations in the voluntary and community sector recognises its staff wtlh higher than average salaries and benefils. The posts that were identified as anomalie5 were also brought into line and we conlinue to monitor this lo ensure we remain competitive and an employer of choice. With Board members standing down at our AGM in December 2023, we recruited and appointed Iwo new Board members from the public and private sectors who bring additional skills and experience to the organisation. In January 2024 the Board commenced a mid-point review of our progress in our organisalional development joumey. We were delighted to have made considerable progress against the organisalional development plan. We will now be prioritising remaining identified areas including extending our reach and increasing our influence over the next two years. In a particularly volatile funding environrnenl and with considerable work undertaken in identifying and submitting funding applications, we have been fortunate to end the year showing a small unrestricled financial surplus. As we move into Ihe next financial year the funding environrnent is even more volatile as the economic crisis impacts on availability of slatutory funding and increases competition wilh trusts and foundations whose own resources are now being stretched. It is against this background that the rights of children to access Ihe Services they need lo grow and live are at their greatest risk since CLC ¢ommenced its work in 1997. CLC will continue to work in the besl interests of all children living in Northem Ireland lo ensure Iheir access to services to which they are entitled and more broadly to ensure their rights under equality and human rights legislation are vindicated. In continuing this work we would like lo thank our small dedicated staff team for another year of trojan work. to our Trustees who conlinue to support and guide our work; lo our YoLrth@CLC volunleets and all young people we have engaged with this year, for their commitment to a better future for children and young people,. and lasl but by no means least to the Trusts and Foundations who have shown such faith in our work and our statutory funders for their continuing support in the most Challenging of times. Financial review The results for the year are set out in detail on pages 13 to 34. The Centre returned net deficit of £142,940 (2023 - £100,439) of which £151,372 related to a net deficit in restricted funds and £8,432 related to a net increase in unrestricted funds. The increase in unrestricted funds includes eXptIOnal movement in pension provision expenditure of £45,060 (2023- income of£613). At 31 March 2024, the tolal funds of the charity amounted to £706,571, comprising restricled funds of £321.067 and unreslricted funds of £385,504. The unrestricted fund balance includes unrestricted general funds of £390.793. designated funds of £55.000 and a deficit on the pension reserve of £60.289. The vast rnajority of income received by the Centre is earmarked by the donor for specific ptjrposes (restricted income). Only small amounts are received as free monies (unrestricted income) which can be allocated according lo organisational needs, including core running costs. The unrestricted fund is considered to be essential to the Cenlre as restricted funds are not always sufficient to meet all msts. Furthermore. in the current economic environment, the level of funding may fluctuate from one year to the next. The unrestricted fund will therefore be essential to finance working capital, continue the charity's activities in the short term and fulfil its legal responsibilities to employees and creditors for a three month period. Current running costs for the charity are £75,000 per month and the level of free reseeS at the year end, exduding fixed assets and designated funds, was £284,296. The charity has significant funds secured for Ihe forthcoming year and budgels have been prepared that show that the charity has sufficient resources lo continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Restricted funds represent funds which are lo be used in accordance with specific reslriclions imposed by donors. The balan of restricled funds al 31 March 2024 was £321,067. The trustees have assessed the major risks to which the charity is exposed, and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks.
CHILDREN'S LAW CENTRE (NORTHERN IRELAND) TRUSTEES. REPORT {INCLUDING DIRECTORS. REPORT) (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024 Plan5 forfuture perlods One of the long-term objeclives for the organisation remains the securing of mainstream funding for the Centre alongside diversifying and growing funding slreams. Acling on financial and legal advice. the Centre is also committed lo w01n9 to build unrestricted financial reserves equivalent to six months with a minimum of at least three months, running costs to ensure a financial cushion in the event of futu funding difficulties. The building of such reserves is viewed by the d)arity as prudent financial management. in the best intèrest off the Centre and necessary lo honour the Centre's legal and financial commitments. structure, goveman¢e and management The Centre is a Charitable organisalion and a company limited by guarantee govemed by ils Articles of Association. The Centre is a membership organisation which is govemed by a Board of Truslees (which is also Ihe Board of Directors) elected for one year al Ihe organisation's AGM. According to the Centre's constitution. additional Board members can be co-opted. The Boaid elect a Chaii. Vice Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. Training is provided as required. All Cenlre slaff are answerable to the Board through the Centre Dire¢tor, Ms Patiicia Kelly, who is responsible for the day to day management of the Centre. The Board of Trustees ensure5 the good governance of the organisalion by setting its strategic objeclives and policy direction through the Centre's Ihree year sltategic plan and monttoring progress on this through the annual operational planning process. The trustees. who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up io the date of signature of the financial statements were.. Ms A Toal Ms A Stewart Mr D Farrell Mr J Finnegan Ms S Slewart Ms T Canavan MrBDMoss DIDJDrury Mr C Haugh (Appointed 22 February 2024) (Appointed 22 February 2024)
CHILDREN'S LAW CENTRE (NORTHERN IRELAND) TRUSTEES, REPORT (INCLUDING DIRECTORS. REPORT) ICONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024 Statement of trustses. re5ponslbllltlés The trustees, who ar8 also the directors of Children's Law Centre (Northem Irelanffj for Ihe purpose of company law, are responsfole for preparing the Ttuslees, Report and the finanal slalements in accordance wilh applicabl8 law and United Kingdom Accounting Slandards {Unlled Klngdom Generalty Accepte(l Accounting Pr?ICe). Company Law requires the tnjstees to prepare fjnanoal slalemenls ftjr eath financAal year which glve a Irve and fair ew of the state of affairs of the charity and of tho ino)ming resources and application of resources. induding the income and axpenditure. of the charitable company for thal year. In preparing ihese finan¢lal staiements. the trustees are required to: - select sultable aeei)unting policies and Ihen apply Ihem consislenty; - observe the methods and prindples in the Charities SORP: - make judgementB and estimates that are reasonable and pwdent; slate whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any materil departures disclosed and explalned in the finanaal ststemenls: and - prepare the financial slatemenls on the 9olng ¢on¢em basis unless it is inappropTiale to presume thal Ihe chafily wli l Continue in operal*)n. The trustees are responslble for keeping adequate ac¢ounling records that dlsdose with reasonable accuracy at any tlme the finanrial position of Ihe charity and enable them lo ensure thal the financ4al statements compty wlth the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding th8 asset5 of the charty and hence for taking reasonable steps lor Ihe prevention and detection of fraud and other 1rtegu1aries. Audltor In accordance with the companses article4 8 resolulion proposing thal GMCG BELFAST be reappointed as audilor of the company will be put al a General Meeling. Small Companle$ Exemptlon In preparlng this reporl, the diredors have taken advantage of the small Companies exemptions provlded by 5eciion 415A of Ihe Companie8 Act 2006. Dlsclosure ol Inforniation to audltor Eath af the trnstees has confimied thal there is no Information of which they a aware which is relevanl to the audit, but of which the auditorls unaware. They have further ¢onfirmed Ihat they have taken appropriate Steps to Idenllfy such revant infwfflation and to establish that the auditor is aware of such Infomialion. The trustees, Teportwas approved by the Board of Trustees. 'Ms P Kelly Company Sèerètsry