The Trustees present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024.
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, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) 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).
Introduction
Goalball U.K. is the governing body for the Paralympic sport of goalball across the United Kingdom.
We are committed to ensuring that the sport continues to thrive from grassroots to our Performance Programme. We are responsible for the training and selection of teams representing Great Britain and for participation in and development of goalball across the United Kingdom.
Goalball U.K. represents goalball’s interests on the British Paralympic Association, the Sport and Recreation Alliance, Sport England, U.K. Sport, government and non-governmental agencies and many other organisations.
Goalball U.K.’s mission is to be world leading in promoting and providing sporting opportunities for blind and partially sighted people and to make goalball a universally recognised sport in the U.K.
We are driven to transform people’s lives through our sport by:
Building inclusive partnerships
Creating safe, exciting opportunities
Empowering through ownership
Connecting the goalball family
Creating positive communities
As an organisation, we are committed to serve our players with passion, act with integrity and to be responsive to our stakeholders. Our pride in working at Goalball U.K. must be reflected in our drive for success at all levels.
Business Review
As we navigate towards our new 2025-2029 strategic plan, I am pleased to share the remarkable strides Goalball UK has made in the last calendar year.
2023/24 saw the second year of the new funding cycle with Sport England. In partnership, we identified a range of priorities for the next five years to support Sport England’s ‘Uniting the Movement’ agenda. It is also the third year of the funding cycle with UK Sport. We enter a period of change, and much work has gone into making sure we are ready to take goalball into a new chapter.
It was agreed we will, as part of our systemic role within the sector, continue to use goalball to transform the lives of people who are blind and partially sighted. The developments have been numerous. The competition structure continues to develop. We are aware this brings challenges and we continue to work with clubs to ensure as many people can play our sport and be part of the goalball community.
We have further established and strengthened our role within the sport and disability sectors as an expert insight leader and champion of people who are blind or partially sighted. For example, we have been carrying out research work in partnership with York St John University and joined three other governing bodies working with The True Athlete Project examining ways to support the whole athlete. Furthermore, we are pleased to be developing research work with Leeds Beckett University. We are excited to be supporting the sport and physical activity ecosystem in reducing the barriers to participation and improving the life chances for people with a visual impairment (VI) irrespective of ethnicity, age, gender, sexuality, location, or socioeconomic status.
Regarding our governing role, we are continuing to further establish and strengthen our influence within the sport and disability sectors as an expert deliverer, insight leader and champion of people who are blind or partially sighted.
Business Review (continued)
We are committed to creating a strong, challenging learning and insight framework specific to our people, their experiences, barriers and motivations. This year we embedded a framework to measure learning and progress.
We continue to develop our safeguarding work, and pleasing progress has been made in relation to our policies and procedures. We also provided several online safeguarding courses for clubs ensuring they are better placed in this area. Like the entire sector, this is still an area for attention, and we are implementing improvements.
The sport continues to be compliant with the Code of Sports Governance and has implemented the updated requirements of the code which were released during the financial year. We have developed a People Plan to support people across our community. This will also be supported by a Diversity Inclusion Action Plan. We are committed to our sport being inclusive for a diverse cohort within the VI community.
We are also mindful of ensuring our sport has as little impact on the environment as possible and introduced changes to our practices and delivery methods. This has been developed into our Environmental Policy and this year we will work on the consequential action plan.
The results of our recent members survey revealed over 87% of our members are satisfied with the services Goalball U.K. provides. These include competitions, support, communication, and safety. The survey also revealed a strong interest towards the development of team support and coaching opportunities which we will continue to develop alongside our members as part of our new strategy that will be launched at the end of the year.
High Performance
2023 was a busy year for our high-performance programme, marked by two qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. We hosted 20 training camps, participated in three international competitions, and organised an international training camp. In 2023, we welcomed new members to our team, including Chief Medical Officer Dr. Alaina Hadfield, enhancing our medical support alongside physiotherapists, and contributing to concussion protocol delivery.
IBSA World Games
The IBSA World Games were held on home soil, making the event even more significant for everyone involved. Both our men’s and women’s teams had the opportunity to compete against the best teams in the World, producing some memorable performances in front of family and friends.
Finishing positions:
GBR Women 7th place
GBR Men 13th place
The Games also allowed us to grow the sport, raise awareness and celebrate our wonderful sport and community.
IBSA European Championships
At the European A Championships in Podgorica, Montenegro, in December 2023, both our teams competed for the first time since 2017.
The Women's team secured second in their group behind Turkey, and after a victory over Finland, faced a semi-final defeat to Israel. Unfortunately, they missed a bronze medal against Greece, finishing just outside the podium.
The Men's team, having been promoted to Europe's top division in November 2022, aimed to retain their status. They won two of four group matches and faced Turkey in the quarter finals but were defeated. They successfully secured their place in the European A division after a decisive 5-3 win against Greece in a crucial match, marking their continued presence in the division for the first time since 1999.
Finishing positions:
GBR Women 4th place
GBR Men 7th place
Our Paris 2024 cycle ended with neither team qualifying for the Paralympic Games. However, we will enter the next Paralympic cycle with two teams competing at European A Championships level.
IBSA European Championships (continued)
We bid farewell to key staff, including Alex Bunney, who, after over nine years, departed as the GBR Men’s Team Assistant Coach. His contributions, especially in maintaining our European A Championships status, have been invaluable, and although he will be missed, we are glad to keep his expertise in a broader coaching role. We also said goodbye to Aaron Ford and Becky Ashworth who chose to step away from the programme. Additionally, lead physiotherapist Josie Hewson and nutritionist Jodie Redgrave have left the programme, and we are thankful for their long-term support, and wish them well in their future endeavours.
At the end of the year we launched our new Performance programme, the result of five years hard work by many people. Despite not qualifying for Paris, we enter the new cycle with optimism. The programme will be driven by Gary Fraser our High Performance Lead and Faye Dale our National Talent Lead, alongside experienced coaches, staff and new coaches to our sport. This puts us in a good position heading into the LA 2028 cycle.
Classification
In 2023 we were pleased to announce our new partnership with The London Clinic, as their Eye Centre will be conducting all Goalball U.K. classification examinations. This enables us to have a stable option for classification, and access to ophthalmologists throughout the year. This partnership demonstrates a proactive and progressive step forward for the NGB, as well as supporting the Clinic’s charitable purpose.
Talent and Academy
Talent sits as an integral part of the Goalball U.K. Performance Pathway. Players and staff within this programme are developing themselves through learning and experiences to best prepare them for transition into the senior Great Britain squads.
During 2023/24 our talent and academy squads have gone from strength to strength. The Talent squad has had six training camps and one international tournament resulting in a well-deserved silver medal. The Academy Squad has had four training camps and is now fully recognised as an official programme in Goalball U.K.’s new Performance Pathway.
Children and Young People
Goalball U.K.’s Schools programme continues to go from strength to strength, promoting goalball as an inclusive sport to both sighted and blind or partially sighted pupils. In 2023/24 we worked with twenty-eight schools, introducing over 1,700 students to goalball. This included one hundred and nineteen blind or partially sighted pupils.
A new partnership with PE Office has been established to redevelop our secondary school resources, launched in 2024. The new offer will raise awareness of and increase the ongoing delivery of goalball in schools.
The Youth Forum held mini fundraising events at tournaments including bake sales and raffles leading up to their first fundraising event ‘Climb Snowdon’ which raised over £3,000. The Youth Forum will use these funds to organise the 2024 Summer Camp.
In partnership with Guide Dogs (Southampton, Devon & Cornwall, and Bristol teams), local sight loss societies (Berkshire Vision, Sight for Surrey, and Oxfordshire Eyes) and British Blind Sport we delivered several opportunities for children and young people to try goalball at their events.
Clubs
Our network of affiliated goalball clubs expanded in 2023/24 with three new clubs launched in Bradford, Oxford, and Staffordshire and most recently we began development work in North Wales. Our staff have been on hand throughout the year to support existing clubs to develop in key areas of governance, safeguarding, funding, and workforce development.
We would like to thank all our clubs for their hard work throughout the year in delivering goalball in their local communities. In 2024 and beyond we will focus on improving our club support offer as we recognise the challenges clubs face in setting up and sustaining.
Competition
Our officials, activators, and event staff have delivered thirty-one regional, intermediate, and national competition days with over 230 players taking part. Our competitions continue to be a fantastic opportunity for players, coaches, and officials to come together and share their passion for the sport on and off the court.
In June 2023, we delivered our flagship event, the Goalfix Cup, at Worcester University piloting a three-day format for the first time. The event was live streamed with audio description commentary available in the venue and on the live stream. As we look ahead, our priority is to increase and further upskill our workforce to sustain and grow our competition offer for 2024 and beyond.
Awareness and Taster Days
Our partnership work with British Blind Sport (BBS) delivers practical goalball taster sessions and awareness-raising activities across the UK. As well as BBS events, we represent at QAC Sight Village events, the Albinism Fellowship Family Conference, Help for Heroes, Sight Loss Council’s ‘Let’s Get Active’ Day and various sports festivals around the country. Goalball U.K., in partnership with our affiliated clubs, also offers taster sessions throughout the year.
The IBSA World Games offered the opportunity to make the most of the wide exposure of goalball with our World Games Grant Scheme funding fifteen extra taster sessions to introduce new people to the sport.
Learning and Development
In partnership with BBS and UK Coaching, we have developed a new e-learning course which was launched in 2024. Working with Winchester Kings and Cambridge Dons we have piloted our coach education workshops. We look forward to expanding on this work and delivering more coaching content to the club network in 2024. Thirty-two people completed our Online Introduction to Officiating Course in 2023. We have trained twenty new club leaders and 163 new School Leaders to deliver goalball.
Workforce and Volunteers
The work of Goalball UK would not be possible without the team of dedicated, enthusiastic and skilled volunteers who make up a myriad of roles to form our workforce. From 14 to 81 years old, the people supporting goalball come from all walks of life.
In 2023/24 our workforce grew by almost 100%!
28 new volunteer Activators joined our 26 existing Activators.
6 newly qualified referees now join our group of 20 qualified goalball referees.
We provided 28 volunteers to the IBSA World Games who took on official roles such as table and goal judging.
In 2023/24, working with eight universities, volunteering has boosted the number of individuals joining the goalball community. We have represented at various university volunteer fairs such as Sheffield Hallam University, University of Sheffield, University of Birmingham, Birmingham City University, York St John University, University of Worcester, Bishop Grosseteste University, and the University of East London.
Partnerships
We have continued to develop new partnerships, helping to provide more opportunities for people who are blind or partially sighted. This area of work is a key function in developing the long-term sustainability of our charity. Since 2017 we have generated income from a variety of sources, and it has allowed us to develop many new projects.
We will shortly finalise Goalball UK’s 2024-2027 fundraising strategy. This will set out ambitions to grow fundraising as an income stream within the organisation. We will bring the goalball community on the journey by introducing activities which will drive the diversification of current income. Over the year we have tried a variety of ways to develop and understand our fundraising strengths and areas for development. This has allowed us to define where we focus our energy in the coming years.
We have established commercial partnerships with several companies to support our work. Namely, Northern Accountants, PE Office, Direct Business Solutions, Sol PV and Perfection Travel. All these companies are collaborating with us to support our cause and have become shirt sponsors for our Great Britain teams. This is the first time Goalball UK have attracted sponsorship of this kind. Goalfix Sports continues to be the headline sponsor for the Goalfix Cup and the partnerships continue to flourish.
Pilot Projects throughout the year included time spent working with our community. We worked with the GB Squad to identify costs they personally incur and provide them with templates and localised funding that could support them.
We have identified this work needs to be replicated with clubs.
2024 and beyond will see us focus on supporting clubs' substantiality as part of our new strategy.
We launched the ‘Get Behind GB’ campaign to raise awareness of the IBSA World Games and support the Great Britain teams participating. This campaign had limited success and led to vital learnings. If we want to develop crowdfunding as a source of funding, we must grow our reach beyond the present goalball community.
In partnership with British Blind Sport, we hosted existing and new partners at the IBSA World Games in Coventry. This allowed us to showcase the sport and our people positively and allowed us to enter several new conversations about partnerships.
Partnerships (continued)
In terms of grants and trusts we did not meet our target income. However, we remain committed to developing this area. After several pilot projects, we have established Trusts and Foundations that are key to increasing our income streams. Alongside this we must develop relationships with corporate partners and both areas of work will be our focus moving forward, whilst developing the reach of our sport and organisation across the UK.
Final Thanks
On behalf of the Board, I would like to pass on my thanks the Goalball U.K. executive team for their efforts and commitment to goalball.
The sport is highly dependent upon the large numbers of volunteers who help with every area of the sport. The directors express their thanks to all volunteers for their hard work and dedication over the past year. We are committed to supporting them in their endeavours and our new work will demonstrate this.
Goalball U.K. continues to account separately for two distinct operational strands – Grass Roots and High Performance. The grass roots operation is mainly shown as unrestricted funds and is funded principally by Sport England. The High Performance programmes are shown as restricted funds.
The Sport England grant was the second award of the 2022-7 funding cycle.
Income received by the grass roots funds rose by a modest 2% during the financial year. In the face of challenges being experienced across the charitable sector, Goalball U.K. maintained its level of income generation.
Expenditure by Grass Roots rose by 8% during the financial year. This was largely due to the strengthening of the Senior Management Team in High Performance, Communications and Fundraising, as well as the investment in staging the World Games on home soil.
The Grass Roots fund therefore returned a deficit of £57,814 during the financial year. However, the level of reserves built up in previous financial years enabled the fund to manage this deficit. As a result, the fund had a surplus going forward of £535 as at 31 March 2024. Whilst this value is lower than the level of required reserves as per the reserves policy, the charity has carried out an extensive review of its income and expenditure levels in the subsequent financial years and is confident of its ability to meet its future financial commitments.
The High Performance strand was the recipients of U.K. Sport and private funding during the 2023-4 financial year. The National Squad Support Funding Programme ensured that the fund received a level of public funding through to 31 March 2024.
Income received by the High Performance fund doubled during the financial year, as this was the first full year of being supported via the NSSF award. In a year of major competitive activity for GB sides, High Performance charitable expenditure rose by 7%. At the close of the financial year, the fund had a surplus going forward of £36,903. This surplus will be sufficient to allow the fund to meet its financial commitments until the next round of UK Sport funding starts, which is 1st April 2025.
It is the policy of the charity that unrestricted funds which have not been designated for a specific use should ideally be maintained at a minimum level equivalent to between three and six month’s non-project expenditure. The Trustees consider that reserves at this level will ensure that, in the event of a significant drop in funding, they will be able to continue the charity’s current activities while consideration is given to ways in which additional funds may be raised.
The Trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charitable company is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against known risks. The Trustees have assessed the major risks to which the charitable company is exposed, in particular those related to the operations and finances of the charity.
Robust corporate governance is another critical area of risk management. Sport England and U.K. Sport demand that we continuously undertake a very rigorous self-assurance process to ensure we maintain good governance across the whole organisation and are in line where realistically possible with best practice.
Financial review (continued)
Significant external risks to funding present the greatest threat to the charity's future. The Board maintains close links with Sport England and U.K. Sport to ensure it has a positive and supportive relationship with them. In parallel, numerous fund raising initiatives have been undertaken and donations sought to diversify the charity's sources of income.
The Trustees have instigated insurance policies with Hiscox and Aviva Insurance.
The Trustees are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate our exposure to the major risks.
Goalball U.K. is a company limited by guarantee constituted by a Memorandum and Articles of Association with charitable status.
The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
P Elliott replaced G Clancey as the Senior Independent Director.
The members of the Board are the directors/trustees of Goalball U.K. and have the powers and responsibilities of the strategic management of the business of the organisation. The Board comprises:
The Chair (Non-Executive)
Senior Independent Director (Non-Executive);
Chief Executive Officer;
Six Independent Directors (Non-Executive)
Except for the Chief Executive Officer, the Board is comprised of non-executive directors. The day to day running of the organisation is delegated to the Chief Executive Officer.
The Board has appointed five Committees to support its work:
Competition and Club Committee
Performance and Talent Committee
Risk Group
Finance and Operations Group
Fundraising and Communications Group
The purpose of each Sub-Committee is recorded in its terms of reference.
Applications for employment by disabled persons are always fully considered, bearing in mind the aptitudes of the applicant concerned. In the event of members of staff becoming disabled, every effort is made to ensure that their employment within the charity continues and that the appropriate training is arranged. It is the policy of the charity that the training, career development and promotion of disabled persons should, as far as possible, be identical to that of other employees.
The charity's policy is to consult and discuss with employees, through unions, staff councils and at meetings, matters likely to affect employees' interests.
Information of matters of concern to employees is given through information bulletins and reports which seek to achieve a common awareness on the part of all employees of the financial and economic factors affecting the charity's performance.
In accordance with the company's articles, a resolution proposing that Clarkson Hyde LLP be reappointed as auditor of the company will be put at a General Meeting.
The Trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
The Trustees, who are also the directors of Goalball UK for the purpose of company law, are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report and the accounts in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Company Law requires the Trustees to prepare accounts 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 accounts, 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 accounts; and
- prepare the accounts 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 accounts 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.
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of Goalball UK (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 March 2024 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet 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 Trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.
In connection with our audit of the financial statements, 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 audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. 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 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) 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 and proper 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 145 of the Charities Act 2011 and section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and report in accordance with the Acts 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.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below.
We gained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework applicable to the company and the industry in which it operates, and considered the risk of acts by the company that were contrary to applicable laws and regulations, including fraud. We designed audit procedures to respond to the risk, recognising that 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 misrepresentations, or through collusion.
We focussed on laws and regulations which could give rise to material misstatement in the financial statements, including, but not limited to, the Companies Act 2006 and UK tax legislation. Our tests included agreeing the financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation and enquiries with management. 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. We did not identify any key audit matters relation to irregularities, including fraud. As in all of our audits, we also addressed the risk of management override of internal controls, including testing journals and evaluating whether there was evidence of bias by the directors that represented a risk of material misstatement due to fraud.
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 and regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. 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.
Clarkson Hyde LLP 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.
Goalball UK is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is English Institute of Sport Sheffield, Coleridge Road, Sheffield, S9 5DA.
The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the charity's Articles of Association, the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) 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)” (as amended for accounting periods commencing from 1 January 2016). The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities applying FRS 102 Update Bulletin 1 not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.
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 pound.
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.
Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless delivery conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.
Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.
All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis. All expenses including support costs and governance costs are allocated or apportioned to the applicable expenditure headings.
Governance costs comprise all costs involving the public accountability of the charity and its compliance with regulation and good practice. These costs include costs related to statutory audit and legal fees.
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.
At each reporting end date, the charity reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any).
Stocks are stated at the lower of cost and estimated selling price less costs to complete and sell. Cost comprises direct materials and, where applicable, direct labour costs and those overheads that have been incurred in bringing the stocks to their present location and condition. Items held for distribution at no or nominal consideration are measured the lower of replacement cost and cost.
Net realisable value is the estimated selling price less all estimated costs of completion and costs to be incurred in marketing, selling and distribution.
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.
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.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.
Fund accounting
General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the company and which have not been designed for any other purpose.
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.
Delivery related grants
Delivery related grants
Delivery related grants
Delivery related grants
Charitable expenditure
In their roles as trustees, they were reimbursed a total of £1,119 travelling expenses (2023 - £636).
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
Gross wages totalling £67,900 (2023: £64,600) were made to employees whose emoluments exceed £60,000, national insurance contributions totalling £8,115 (2023: £8,122) were made on behalf of employees whose emoluments exceed £60,000 and contributions totalling £1,321 (2023: £1,321) were made to defined contribution pension schemes on behalf of employees whose emoluments exceed £60,000.
The remuneration of key management personnel was as follows:
The balance includes £67,900 (2023: £64,600) of gross wages, £8,115 (2023: £8,122) of Employer's national insurance and £1,321 (2023: £1,321) of Employers pension contributions.
The charity is exempt from taxation on its activities because all its income is applied for charitable purposes.
The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund.
The restricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants held on trust subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used.
The unrestricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants which are not subject to specific conditions by donors and grantors as to how they may be used. These include designated funds which have been set aside out of unrestricted funds by the trustees for specific purposes.
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: