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2023-03-31-annual-report

DocuSign Envelope ID: 636EFDE8-15D2-46E5-B16F-B69BD126C8A1

Scotch Street Youth & Community Centre

Report of the Trustees

for the year ended 31 March 2023

The trustees have pleasure in presenting their report together with the unaudited financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2023. The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in the notes to the accounts and comply with the Charity’s governing document, the Charities Act (NI) 1964 and Charities (NI) Order l987.

Structure, Governance and Management

The Trust (the charity) is an unincorporated trust, constituted under a deed of trust, and is registered as a charity with HRMC. Scotch Street Youth & Community Centre was registered with HMRC under charity number XT38572. This is the thirteenth set of annual accounts being prepared for the charity, but the second set of accounts being prepared on the accruals basis; in line with CCNI guidelines and the Charities SORP.

The trustees and officers are appointed on an annual basis.

The trustees meet regularly to discuss the broad strategy of the charity to include areas of activity for the charity, assessment of reserves and risk management. The day-to-day administration of the charity is delegated to a core Senor Management Team comprising of 2 Trustees and 2 senior staff members.

Trustees

The Trustees who served during the year were as follows:

Gordon Woolsey Jenni Stewart Sasha Madill Emma Hylands Bethany Ebron Jessica Maye Conor Forker (Resigned Feb 2023) Catriona Shaw (Resigned 24[th] October 2022) Melissa Burney Alison Cordoner (appointed Feb 2023) Emme Salt (appointed Feb 2023) Sarah McVeigh (appointed Feb 2023) Ian Best (appointed Feb 2023)

Risk Management

The trustees actively review any major risks, which the charity faces on a regular basis and believe that maintaining reserves at current levels, combined with ongoing reviews of the controls over key financial systems, will provide sufficient resources for the incoming year. The trustees have also examined other operational and business risks faced by the Charity and confirm that they have established systems to mitigate the most significant risks.

Objectives and Activities

- Public Benefit

The advancement of citizenship or community development: The direct benefits which flow from this purpose include giving children, young people and the wider community, a programme of social, educational and recreational activities within a safe and secure environment where self esteem and confidence will grow in addition to respecting equality, diversity and inter dependence. These benefits will be demonstrated through continued and increased numbers of people attending the events organised by Scotch Street Youth & Community Centre and the continued positive impact upon the lives of those we work with. The charity’s beneficiaries are people living in the townland of Scotch Street and the wider Armagh, Banbridge & Craigavon area. The only private benefit flowing from this purpose is the Organisation’s programme of ongoing training that a trustee may attend in relation to good governance, finance etc. Through this training trustees gain skills and expertise which are transferable to other settings. These benefits are incidental and necessary to ensure the benefit is provided to our beneficiaries.

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DocuSign Envelope ID: 636EFDE8-15D2-46E5-B16F-B69BD126C8A1

Scotch Street Youth & Community Centre

Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 March 2023

Financial Review

The Financial Statements are presented in the standard format required by the Charities SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice), and in accordance with The Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 as required by The Chairity Commission for Northern Ireland.

The Statement of Financial Activities on page 6 shows the gross income from all sources.

Scotch Street Youth & Community Centre is reliant upon grant income from various funders such as The National Lottery, Armagh Banbridge & Craigavon Borough Council, BBC Children in Need and many others to finance the various outreach programmes operated by SSYCC. In addition to grants received SSYCC also generate income through various activities, the income from which are then used to support the ongoing running costs of the charity. A brief summary of the financial position for the year is outlined below:

Total income £ 299,066 (previous year; £ 247,473 ) Total Outgoings £ 286,856 (previous year; £ 226,486 ) Surplus for year £ 12,210 (previous year; £ 20,987 )

Investment Policy

Apart from retaining a prudent amount in reserves most of the charity’s funds are spent in the short term.

Reserves Policy

The trustees aim to maintain sufficient reserves to enable the trust to continue in the furtherance of its objectives.

Chair & Vice Chairs reflections on the year and plans for the future

SSYCC continues to deliver upon its strategic plan of work which was launched in October 2020, following the consultation and development of a new 5 year strategic plan from 2020-2025, which involved members, volunteers, staff and management committee.

This strategic plan set out a new vision and mission statement for the organisation:

‘SSYCC’s vision is of a welcoming, vibrant and inclusive society where people are supported to achieve their full potential, and everyone actively participates in community life.’

SSYCC’s mission is to make a positive difference by encouraging participation, strengthening community relationships and providing opportunities for learning and development.

From April 2022 to March 2023, we held 4 management committee meetings. We want to take this opportunity to thank all management committee members for their faithfulness and dedication in attending these meetings and playing a vital role in the management of the organisation.

Partnership continues to be key to the success of our programme of work. We are indebted to various partner organisations who have worked closely with us over the past 12 months, all working to meet the needs of children, young people and the communities we serve and work in.

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DocuSign Envelope ID: 636EFDE8-15D2-46E5-B16F-B69BD126C8A1

Scotch Street Youth & Community Centre

Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 March 2023

Since our last annual report, SSYCC have been involved in the delivery of an extensive programme of work, not only in the local area, but across the wider Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area. The continued partnership and delivery of the Uniting Communities through Sport & Creativity project funded by Department for Communities (DfC) has resulted in SSYCC leading a fantastic project in partnership with Healthy Kidz and Oasis Youth.

The success of the iRural project across rural Craigavon and the wider area has been instrumental to the continued growth of SSYCC over this past 12 months. This project continues to make a huge difference to not only the lives of children and young people from rural communities, but also to the organisations which deliver this vital service to their local communities. The iRural project has enabled rural youth organisations the opportunity to build on their hard work, enhance what they have been doing already and to ensure sustainability long after the iRural project concludes later on this year.

We would like to place on record our thanks to the staff and volunteer teams across the ABC area who continue to work hard and make these projects the success that they are.

SSYCC have been proactive in being a voice and advocate for children, young people and communities from rural areas across the council area. We do this by staff and committee members representing SSYCC and the wider rural areas on various committees, steering groups and action groups. This has allowed us to speak of the needs and disadvantages which many children, young people and communities face from across the ABC rural areas and beyond.

Staff members continue to use Upshot, an online monitoring and evaluation tool which allows us to gather statistics and evidence the important work being carried out at SSYCC.

Since our last AGM, across our full programme of work which includes: SSYCC Programme of Work, iRural Project, Uniting Communities and BBC Children in Need Youth Social Action Project, we have worked with 728 individual members and delivered 507 sessions plus additional young people have been reached through our detached work in the local Scotch Street area and 125 children reached via our iRural Schools Transition Programme. Finally, across our full programme of work, over the last 12 months, we had a total of 8,802 attendances across the full year. These are amazing statistics, showing the significant work carried out across all aspects of SSYCC work.

The Senior Management Team (SMT) which comprises of the Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson from the management committee and 2 senior staff members, the Leader in Charge of SSYCC’s programme of work and the iRural project manager continued to meet bi-monthly to discuss and agree on operational and day to day decisions.

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DocuSign Envelope ID: 636EFDE8-15D2-46E5-B16F-B69BD126C8A1

Scotch Street Youth & Community Centre

Report of the Trustees

for the year ended 31 March 2023

There has been a significant time allocated to securing much needed funding over this past 12 months, with an array of funding opportunities successfully applied for, not only to benefit the work in our centre, but the wider work with our partners across the iRural project, benefiting organisations across the ABC council area. As well as our 2 core funders, The National Lottery Community Fund and BBC Children in Need, we have also worked with the following funders during this period: Education Authority Youth Service, Department of Communities, TADA/Departments of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon Borough Council – Core Funding, T:BUC/Executive Office, America Ireland Fund, Neighbourhood Renewal, Moy Park/Sported. We want to thank each of our funders for supporting our work over this past year. We also want to thank our staff team for the time spent compiling applications, reports, evaluations and financial submissions.

We want to take this opportunity to thank our partner organisations, old and new, for the strong working relationship we have, ensuring the successful delivery of projects across the wider ABC council area.

Finally, as a management committee, we want to thank the staff and volunteer team, who make all this possible and a huge thank you, to you, our service users, who make SSYCC the organisation it is.

As we enter the next 12 month period, which will see both the successful iRural project come to a conclusion after 4 years and the Uniting Communities project after 18 months, we will explore various other funding opportunities to ensure that as an organisation, we will be able to continue to meet the needs of children, young people and rural communities across the ABC council area.

Trustee responsibilities in relation to the accounts

Law applicable to charities in Northern Ireland requires the trustees to prepare accounts for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the charity’s financial activities during the year and of its financial position at the year-end. In preparing these accounts, the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping accounting records, which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the accounts comply with the Charities (NI) Order l987 and the provisions of the Trust Deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

This report was approved by the Trustees and signed on its behalf by

Mr Gordon Woolsey Bethany Ebron Chairperson/ Trustee Vice Chairperson/ Trustee

14 February 2024

Date

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