The Trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the Charity's Memorandum and Articles of Association, 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 2019)".
Purposes and aims
Our Charity’s purpose as set out in the objects contained in the company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association are to promote the welfare, education, training and advancement in life of persons with learning disabilities and other disabilities so as to ensure that, as far as possible, they may develop as individuals and active citizens of society, and that the effects of their disability may be reduced.
Generate’s Vision is that people with disabilities should live as valued members of society, entitled to equal rights and choice and be enabled to live their lives with dignity and respect.
Generate’s Mission is to work together with people with a learning disability, autism and other disabilities to build better lives and connect to communities as equal citizens. Building on people’s strengths, we empower them to have a voice, make choices and enforce their rights and make a positive difference to their lives through learning, work and leisure.
Ensuring our work delivers our aims
We regularly review and report on our core activities and the benefits they have brought to people with a learning disability, autism and other disabilities. This process of review helps us to remain focussed on our stated purposes. We have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit as part of our review process and consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives set by the Trustees and the Chief Operating Officer.
The focus of our work
The main focus of Generate’s work is the support and development of people with a learning disability and or Autism, although we do offer support to people with other disabilities via our Access to Work Project. We also run a series of health and wellbeing activities and host the website at www.easyhealth.org.uk which makes health information available to people with a learning disability and the people who support them. We also support our local NHS integrated care board (ICB) to improve the uptake of annual health checks and to produce accessible training and information literature.
Generate values difference and promotes inclusion and these core beliefs encourage us to offer support of the highest quality which:
Focuses on the individual
Connects the people we support to the community
Promotes choice and independence
Addresses the discrimination people with a disability experience
For our target cohort of people with a learning disability, we seek to support all aspects of a person's life at all stages of life: learning, leisure, employment and health and wellbeing and end of life.
Our current projects are designed to meet our aims:
Community Connections
The collective name for projects delivering outreach support (one-to-one), group activities, health and wellbeing initiatives, art classes and music classes. Community Connections offers a range of support options and activities to around 100 people with learning disabilities and autism. The outreach element offers 1-1 facilitation to access to the community, learning, employment, health services and to assist with the day-to-day management of living an independent life.
Group projects provide daily access to health and wellbeing programs, independent life skills courses, sport and exercise and social connections.
Generate arts helps people to develop their interpretative and motor skills while offering a cultural connection to mainstream art and artists with museum and gallery visits and the opportunity to exhibit and sell work. Music classes, including our very popular drumming sessions, focuses on improving peoples’ ability to play an instrument and perform as part of a collective, to develop song writing skills and offer opportunities to record and perform their own musical compositions.
Health and Wellbeing Programme
Our Community Connections service makes a significant contribution to the health and well-being of people with a learning disability, enabling them to live independently without anxiety and encouraging healthy lifestyle choices, as well as introducing individuals to leisure and social activities in their local and wider community. We actively encourage individuals to book regular visits with health professionals and ensure that they have annual health checks with their GP. We provide healthy lifestyle activities, including nutrition advice and a physical activities programme.
Social Opportunities
Currently the Social Opportunities service supports adults with learning disabilities over the age of 18 with up to 40 hours of evenings and weekends group activities. The aim of the Social Opportunities programme is to provide individuals who would have otherwise been isolated to make and meet friends and participate in a range of leisure and social events held in evenings and weekends. Members meet for planning sessions so that they can decide what activities they take part in on a monthly basis. Although we have regular sessions, we are able to be flexible with which evenings and weekend days the activities run, so that the monthly programmes can be responsive to what is happening out in the community, both in Wandsworth as well as more broadly across London. Group sizes range from 5 members up to 25.
The Social Opportunities programme includes a Friendship Group. This is a group of adults who have developed personal and meaningful friendships and only require minimal support to enable them to meet up each week and plan activities. We also host a bi-monthly disco.
Inclusion and Engagement Project - £219,191 3-year funding from July 2022
The national Lottery have funded an Inclusion and Engagement Department that will employ people with a learning disability to deliver projects that give them a voice and platform; create more inclusive policy and practice; and show the rest of the world their talents and abilities.
The Department will support people with a learning disability to develop their skills and confidence to achieve these objectives. This will include training, coaching and practical actions to increase advocacy, campaigning and lobbying skills; embed project management skills; and build relationships with other people and organisations.
The programme will be co-led by Inclusion and Engagement Co-Managers, one of whom will have lived experience of a learning disability. The Department will bring a co-ordinated, strategic investment to our inclusion and engagement work. The Co-Managers will work closely with Freelance Co-developers – people with a learning disability who will co-develop resources, help to shape the overall programme and contribute to a steering group. The programme will also recruit a wider pool of people with a learning disability to work across a series of projects. Participants will be paid for their expertise where appropriate.
Youth Service
Short breaks services
Generate’s Youth Provision is funded by a three-year contract with Wandsworth Council running from June 2022 (with a 2 year extension option for the council) .
The service offers two weekly term time youth clubs, holiday activities, 1:1 buddy work and staff support and travel to a monthly disco. We provide support to young people with a learning disability and/or autism aged 11-17 for clubs, and 11-18 for holiday activities and 11-19 for 1:1 buddy work.
Youth club
Monday boys club and Wednesday girls club. A minibus was provided for those that require transport.
Buddy Service
A 1-1 provision to promote independent travel to and from Generate services.
Disco
Held monthly at the George Shearing youth centre in Battersea or at our Summerstown building.
Half term/Holiday activities
A varied program of fun age-appropriate supported activities that have the added benefit of respite for parents and carers.
Residential breaks
These are funded by a 10k per annum BBC Children in Need Grant and offer young people an opportunity to independently enjoy adventure style group holidays and activities.
Health Projects
Grant funded by the NHS integrated care board (ICB) to increase the uptake of annual health checks and screening programmes for people with a learning disability and to co-deliver learning disability awareness training to GP surgeries and other health settings in the Wandsworth Borough.
We continued to support www.easyhealth.org.uk to provide accessible health information to people with a learning disability and the people who support them. During the year 22/23 there were over 400,000 site visits. It continues to be nationally recognised as an example of good practice, referenced by many other organisations and very widely used by health professionals.
Access to Work
We provide an Access to Work service for disabled adults in employment settings. The Department of Work & Pensions provides in work support hours, job coaches, aids, adaptations, travel and equipment to people with disabilities, long term health conditions and mental ill health in the workplace through the Access to Work Scheme. Generate provides Employment Support Workers and Job Coaches to support people in areas of need within their work role. As of the 31st March 2023, Generate delivered services to 17 clients, totalling 1200 delivery hours per month.
Supported Internships
Generate provides job coaches to support students to gain employability skills in employment settings for Newham College, St Barts hospital, the Whitefield Trust and Hackney hospital.
Supported internships continue to represent a potential growth area for the charity and we will continue working partnership in the coming academic year when we anticipate taking on two new sites.
Generate Voices
Funded by City Bridge for three years (£117,500), this project employs two Coordinators to manage the project, one of whom has lived experience of a learning disability and autism. The project includes a weekly member’s forum that has provided members with the opportunity to discuss issues that are important to them. Topics haves included employment, the Covid-19 vaccine, clinical trials, hate crime, climate change, LGBTQ rights, and social housing. Guest speakers have included people from other national advocacy groups, NHS services, local authority commissioners, independent advocates, academics, and other professionals. Group members have discussed their experiences of facing different challenges whilst living with a learning disability or autism with other learning disabled or autistic people. These opportunities have had a huge impact on the confidence and self-esteem of the members. The forum has been actively engaged in supporting members to become trustees and it is hoped that by Summer 2023 Generate will have its first trustee with lived experience.
Additional achievements
We have continued to build the capacity of our management team and employed an Adult Service Manager (ASM) to develop our complex need support offer and to transform daytime opportunities and prepare a bid for a day service tender in the spring of 2023. (successful as of June 2023)
We are committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse and motivated workforce. Accordingly we pay great attention to our recruitment and hiring procedures so that we have the right levels of skills and capacity to deliver a high quality of service.
We are committed to training and developing our staff through ongoing formal and informal on-to-one sessions and training and support.
We are committed to working in partnership with local and national organisations and participate in forums with a focus on improving support and opportunities for people with a learning disability, such as the Clinical reference Group for people with a learning disability, the Provider Forum, The Learning Disability Partnership Board, the Wandsworth Health Action group and the SW London Transforming Care Partnership. We have also supported the local authority with their 5 year Joint Learning Disability Strategy and contribute to all priority group planning meetings.
Who used and benefitted from our services?
Our objects and funding limit the services we provide to people with a disability. Additionally, our location in London tends to limit our provision of services to people with a learning disability based in the London Boroughs of Wandsworth, Merton and Lambeth and other local authorities in close proximity to our offices. The exceptions to this are the service provided through www.easyhealth.org.uk which extends our reach nationwide/worldwide and In Work support delivered under the Access to Work scheme, which is pan- disability and delivered across London and up to the M25 and the supported Internship Programmes running in North East London
We are actively supporting in the region of 200 people with a disability through our various projects at any given point. We encourage open, equal access and the only stipulation is that people have a learning disability (or fit the criteria for the Access to Work scheme). Learning disability is a broad category but generally speaking Generate are able to work with people who have limited cognitive ability and other more recognised conditions leading to a learning disability.
We will continue to offer services for as long as people ask for our support and are often connected with people from their first presentation at a Youth club and throughout their adult life either intermittently or constantly.
Whilst the main impact of our work is the positive outcomes we achieve for individuals with a disability we are confident that there are also benefits to the family and friends of our service users and to the wider community.
How our activities deliver public benefit:
Our main activities and who we try to help are described above. All our charitable activities focus on supporting people with a disability to live productive and meaningful lives connected to their communities and are undertaken to further our charitable purposes for the public benefit, having regard to the Charity Commission's guidance on this matter. In particular, we ensure that some of our services are offered at no cost to the individual.
Who used and benefitted from our services?
Our objects and funding limit the services we provide to people with a disability. Additionally, our location in London tends to limit our provision of services to people with a learning disability based in the London Boroughs of Wandsworth, Merton and Lambeth and other local authorities in close proximity to our offices. The exceptions to this are the service provided through www.easyhealth.org.uk which extends our reach nationwide/worldwide and In Work support delivered under the Access to Work scheme, which is pan-disability and delivered across London and up to the M25 and the supported Internship Programmes running in North East London.
We are actively supporting in the region of 200 people with a disability through our various projects at any given point. We encourage open, equal access and the only stipulation is that people have a learning disability (or fit the criteria for the Access to Work scheme). Learning disability is a broad category but generally speaking Generate are able to work with people who have limited cognitive ability and other more recognised conditions leading to a learning disability.
We will continue to offer services for as long as people ask for our support and are often connected with people from their first presentation at a Youth club and throughout their adult life either intermittently or constantly. Whilst the main impact of our work is the positive outcomes we achieve for individuals with a disability we are confident that there are also benefits to the family and friends of our service users and to the wider community.
The Trustees can report that during another particularly difficult year in respect to the global pandemic, economic crisis and the national recruitment difficulties, that charity ended the financial year with an unrestricted deficit of £199,039.
Generate’s main issue lays within Community Connections where we have struggled to recruit and retain good support workers, leading to a drop in service delivery or loss of valuable support packages and therefore income. A number of factors prevail:
The pandemic legacy - There has been a decline in number of people wishing to work in social care due to the associate risks to health and a number of Generate members did not return to their full level of support.
Other local employers such as supermarkets are paying higher salaries for “safe” entry level jobs.
The cost-of-living crisis is pushing staff to look for higher pay elsewhere.
The rates charged to local authorities for support services hasn’t had an inflationary uplift for many years.
Direct costs have also increased:
Office rent annual uplift.
Utilities increased.
Increased insurance cover to meet contract requirements.
Staff training costs were higher due to an increase in the number of mandatory courses, including refreshers for staff working with people with more complex needs, comprehensive first aid and safeguarding awareness
Generate's Risk Based Reserves Policy has been based on its objectives with respect to risks on key income streams. Its main features are:
To achieve a margin of working capital sufficient to enable all aspects of the organisation’s work to be conducted in an orderly and efficient manner and to continue to develop more services for people with a learning disability.
To provide contingency funding to assist the organisation in keeping up to date with legislation changes which are likely to impose additional costs.
In order to meet the above criteria, the Trustees consider that Generate should hold free reserves that are within a range between six months total cost committed and 12 month potential risk to income.
Based on current operations, this would give a free reserves requirement of between £475,000 and £660,000.
The current level of free reserves is £173,469. Following a difficult year, this has reduced below our lower threshold requirement of £475,000, however the trustees are committed to replenishing our reserves through sustained growth and surpluses over the next 3 to 5 years.
The Reserves Policy will be monitored by the Trustees on an annual basis.
Our principal funding sources were individuals with Direct Payments who are funded to access our Community Connections service, largely by Wandsworth Council, service agreements with individual budget-holding beneficiaries and individuals funded by the Department for Work and Pensions who use our Access To Work service and Newham Supported Internship Programme. Our Youth Service successfully secured a contract extension to June 2023, providing finical security to the programme. In addition, in March we received confirmation of a further one year contract from Wandsworth Council to provide the Social Opportunities programme into the year 2023/2024.
Risk management
The Trustees have assessed the major risks that the charity faces, in particular to its operations and finances and are satisfied that the charity is taking the necessary actions to remain a going concern:
Trustees requested the Chief Operating Officer and Generate’s accountants to carry out a root and branch review of the business and to identify areas where efficiencies could be made.
An organisational restructure identified three management roles that could be deleted without putting service delivery or income at risk.
Subsequently, redundancies were made in three areas of the business.
Reviewing and agreeing the terms of business with Newham college so as to relinquish the financial burden on Generate and speed up the Access to Work invoice process (a key driver for cash flow problems because of the delay between invoices raised and payments received for the first term).
Negotiating an extension of a Social Investment Bank loan to reduce the monthly outgoings.
Refocusing Generate’s fundraising strategy away from new projects and on to supporting core costs.
Exploring buildings use options with landlord such as subletting.
A strong focus on the board and executive team in coming together in this last year to ensure the strategy, survival and growth of the charity at a time of unprecedented change and loss in our sector with local authorities planning to make £1.3bn in adult social care savings in 2023-24.
Plans for the future
Generate aims to continue to be a provider of high quality services and supports to people with a disability. It is our intention to build on our strengths and grow our Community Connections, Youth and Social Opportunities services both within and beyond in Wandsworth. It also our intention to increase our services to supported internship opportunities for young people with learning disability and autism. We are investing in training to better equip our staff to meet the needs with people with a learning disability/autism and more complex needs and behaviours that can be challenging so that we can accept the increasing number of referrals we are getting in regard to people with these needs. We will continue to strengthen our infrastructure, focusing on the effective promotion of our services and the work that we do and to put in place systems to evidence the quality of the support that we offer. We will seek additional fundraising income to develop provisions in accordance to unmet need in the areas of our charitable activity. We will continue to strengthen our governance arrangements, including member involvement in this aspect of the organisation.
Trustees are recruited via local networks and contacts. Potential Trustees are invited to meet with the Chair and the COO and are invited to visit our premises and our projects and meet some of our staff and beneficiaries. They then attend a minimum of three board meetings after which they can be invited to become a Trustee if agreed by the Board. To support them in their role, all Trustees receive a Governance Publication and are informed about relevant training opportunities by the COO.
Management
The Board of Trustees meets 6 times a year. It is kept informed of developments, and has a clear agenda for governance and strategic planning. It has powers to decide matters of Company Policy. However, it delegates most operational decision making to the COO, who reports to the Board. There is also a Management Team, made up of one Operations Director, 3 Service Managers and an Office manager.
The trustees’ report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime. Approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by:
The Trustees, who are also the directors of Generate Opportunities Ltd for the purpose of company law, are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Company Law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that year.
In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Charity will continue in operation.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
In so far as the trustees are aware:
- there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditor is unaware; and
- the trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information.
The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of Generate Opportunities Ltd (the ‘Charity’) for the year ended 31 March 2023 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the statement of financial position, the statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion, the financial statements:
Basis for opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the Charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the Trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the Charity’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
Other information
The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The Trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:
the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the Trustees' report; or
sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
As explained more fully in the statement of Trustees' responsibilities, the Trustees, who are also the directors of the Charity for the purpose of company law, are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the Charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below.
Risks
Based on our understanding of the charity and industry, we identified that the principle risks of non-compliance with laws and regulations related to compliance with health and safety regulations and safeguarding and child protection and we considered the extent to which non-compliance might have a material effect on the financial statements of the company.
We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the preparation of the financial statements such as the Companies Act 2006 and Charity Commission requirements.
In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct impact on the financial statements but compliance with which may be fundamental to the company’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. These include data protection and employment regulations.
We evaluated managements incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements (including the risk of override of controls), and determined that the principal risks were related to revenue recognition, posting inappropriate journals entries to increase turnover or reduce expenditure, and management bias in accounting estimates and judgemental areas of the financial statements such as recoverability of customer debts, useful lives of tangible assets and valuation of investments held, therefore overall being the overstatement of assets.
Audit response
Audit procedures performed by the engagement team included:
Discussions with management, including consideration of known or suspected instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations and fraud, and review of the reports made by management
Understanding of management’s internal controls designed to prevent and detect irregularities.
Reviewing relevant meeting minutes
Review of tax compliance
Designing audit procedures to incorporate unpredictability around the nature, timing or extent of testing of expenses
Testing transactions entered into outside the normal course of business
System walkthroughs are used to develop an in depth understanding of the entity’s control environment, however, minimal reliance is placed on control within the audit approach. Substantive test of details are carried out, with a broad scope, in order to adequately explore all aspects of revenue recognition.
Performing analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that may indicate risk of material misstatement due to fraud
Reviewing financial statement disclosures and testing to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations
Auditing the risk of management override of controls, including through testing journal entries and other adjustments for appropriateness, and evaluating the business rationale of significant transactions outside the normal course of business
There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures described above and the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely we would become aware of it. Also, the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment, by for example, forgery, or intentional misrepresentation, or though collusion.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report.
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity's trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
Crossley Financial Accounting Limited is eligible for appointment as auditor of the Charity by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.
All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
Generate Opportunities Ltd is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is 73 Summerstown, Tooting, London, SW17 0BQ.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charity's [governing document], the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the Charities SORP "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 2019). The Charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the Charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the Trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
All income is recognised once the company has entitlement to the income, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount of income receivable can be measured reliably.
For legacies, entitlement is taken as the earlier of the date on which either: the company is aware that probate has been granted, the estate has been finalised and notification has been made by the executor(s) to the Trust that a distribution will be made, or when a distribution is received from the estate. Receipt of a legacy, in whole or in part, is only considered probable when the amount can be measured reliably and the company has been notified of the executor's intention to make a distribution. Where legacies have been notified to the company, or the company is aware of the granting of probate, and the criteria for income recognition have not been met, then the legacy is treated as a contingent asset and disclosed if material.
Donated services or facilities are recognised when the company has control over the item, any conditions associated with the donated item have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use of the company of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), the general volunteer time of the Friends is not recognised and refer to the Trustees' Report for more information about their contribution.
On receipt, donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the company which is the amount the company would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.
Income from contracts for the supply of services is recognised with the delivery of the contracted service. This is classified as unrestricted funds unless there is a contractual requirement for it to be spent on a particular purpose and returned if unspent , in which case it may be regarded as restricted.
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified by activity. The costs of each activity are made up of the total of direct costs and shared costs, including support costs involved in undertaking each activity. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs which contribute to more than one activity and support costs which are not attributable to a single activity are apportioned between those activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Central staff costs are allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges allocated on the portion of the asset’s use.
Support costs are those costs incurred directly in support of expenditure on the objects of the company and include project management carried out at Headquarters. Governance costs are those incurred in connection with administration of the company and compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements.
Charitable activities and Governance costs are costs incurred on the company's operations, including support costs and costs relating to the governance of the company apportioned to charitable activities.
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.
Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in the statement of financial activities.
The Charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Financial instruments are recognised in the Charity's balance sheet when the Charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
In the application of the Charity’s accounting policies, the Trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
Grants
Community connections
Youth
Social opportunities
Health
Access to work
Inclusion and engagement
Supported internship
Income from charitable activities
Community connections
Youth
Social opportunities
Health
Access to work
Supported internship
Income from charitable activities
Bank interest receivable
Community connections
Youth
Social opportunities
Health
Access to work
Inclusion and engagement
Supported internship
Miscellaneous expenses
Support staff costs
Events and groups
Music and arts lessons
Art costs
Ingredient costs
Sports and equipment
Excursions
Staff recruitment, training and sundry
Premises costs
Travel and entertainment
Office costs
Professional fees
Bad debt provision
Community connections
Youth
Social opportunities
Health
Access to work
Supported internship
Miscellaneous expenses
Support staff costs
Events and groups
Music and arts lessons
Art costs
Ingredient costs
Sports and equipment
Excursions
Staff recruitment, training and sundry
Premises costs
Travel and entertainment
Office costs
Professional fees
Bad debt provision
Miscellaneous expenses
Events and groups
Staff recruitment, training and sundry
Premises costs
Travel and entertainment
Office costs
Professional fees
PR and events
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
Key Management Personnel
Key management personnel during the year comprised; Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Head of Operations and Key Service Managers. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the charity were £157,287.96 (2022 - £182,594).
The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or section 252 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects.
A general debenture dated 3 June 2020 is held by Barclays Security Trustee Limited. The debenture is a fixed and floating charge over the property and assets.
Children in Need
This grant is for three excursions for young people with disabilities.
City Bridge
This grant is for the continuing costs of the project Generate Voices.
NLCF (Heritage fund)
This grant is to put towards the 50th anniversary party for Generate.
Wandsworth Platinum Jubilee Micro Grant (Social Ops)
This grant is for celebrating the jubilee with adults with learning disabilities.
Community Fund Grant - National Lottery (Social Ops)
This grant is for supporting adults with learning disabilities who are involved in volunteering.
Wandsworth CVS (Social Ops)
This grant is for ongoing projects costs for Cost of Living Project.
The Baily Thomas Charitable Fund (Social Ops)
This grant is a one-off grant towards Social Opportunities: staffing and activity costs.
NLCF (I&E Grant)
This grant is for continuing project costs supporting adults with learning disabilities.
In respect of the grants receivable, additional funding will be paid to Generate Opportunities Ltd with respects to the following grants; Community Fund Grant & City of London Grant. It is probable the Charity will receive a further £224,281 in grants over the course of the next 2 years.
At the reporting end date the Charity had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases, which fall due as follows: