The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in notes to the financial statements and comply with the charity's governing document, 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).
The primary objectives of Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust are threefold:
1. Relieving poverty, hardship and distress among homeless people and among those
in need who are living in adverse housing conditions.
2. Relieving the hardship and distress of individuals suffering mental health problems by
the provision of support and care.
3. Advancing the education of young people by the development of individual
capabilities,competences, skills and understanding.
The trustees confirm that all our activities in 2024–2025 furthered these objectives and
delivered measurable public benefit.
Our strategy this year focused on three priorities:
1. Funding: Secured a five-year funding partnership from the Chelsea Foundation.
2. Impact: Launched a series of pilots with a successful outcome working with
corporate partners.
3. Governance: Created a Youth Board with lived experience.
4. Reporting: Signed up to Upshot, an innovative software system to create Impact
reports and team now fully trained in the use of it.
The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
This has been an exciting year of major growth for JESB where an unprecedented financial partnership was created with the Chelsea Foundation.
This year also marked the launch of JESB’s Impact work to unlock purpose through Self Belief in young people aged 18-25 through a series of programmes across the London community. Planning permission to develop our first Self Belief Sanctuary was approved by Ealing Council which will be renovated once further funding is secured.
We have have started our early career pathway initiatives with young people, known as #GENSB, including partnerships with Google, ITV and Roundhouse. We have piloted our Self Belief Sessions to upskill early career seekers in the community. We have harnessed cutting edge reporting software called Upshot to record impact. And we have launched a Youth Board to amplify the voice of young people. With such a foundational year behind us, we are building Jamal’s legacy of providing access, inspiration and tools to the next generation of Self Believers.
Headline Achievements:
● 101 Young People Engaged
● 91% Report Increased Self Belief
● 7 Major Initiatives
● 4 Paid Roles Placed
● 2 Mentors Provided
● Additional Pathways provided at Google and ITV
● Partner Organisations: 12+
● Sectors Covered: Live Events, Theatre, Tech, Music, Finance, Media
Key Partnerships:
● Corporate: Google, ITV, Sony Music, Greenpeace, Roundhouse
● Charity: Resurgo, Ada Lovelace, 20/20 Levels
● Fundraising: Chelsea Foundation
During the year donations and fund-raising income of £1,188,334 (2024 - £40,488 unaudited) were received.
Expenditure of £533 (2024 - £2,155 unaudited) excluding support costs was incurred on raising funds.
Cash at the end of the year amounted to £314,069 (2024 - £118,340 unaudited).
Charitable support costs include £151,898 of consultancy fees. Consultants were engaged in the period to develop and prepare the 'Self Belief Launch Pad' and related projects.
The Trustees review on a quarterly basis the charity’s development and operational plans, future funding needs and its overall resilience and financial stability to meet its charitable objectives.
It is the policy of the charity that unrestricted funds which have not been designated for a specific use should be maintained at a level equivalent to at least three month’s 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. This level of reserves has been maintained throughout the year.
Governance, Risk & Safeguarding
● The trustees met four times and oversaw strategy, compliance, and financial
planning.
● A comprehensive risk register is maintained; key risks this year included funding
volatility and safeguarding.
● The Youth Board met four times and oversaw the youth voice of JESB supporting
strategy and communications.
Plans for 2025–2026
● Impact: Scale up the programmes with the development of the Self Belief Hub, a
community space in Friary Park, Acton.
● Impact: Launch first Self Belief Mentors Cohort.
● Impact: Launch the Self Belief Sanctuary in Acton.
● Impact: Review Self Belief Sessions Strategy to deepen consistency and impact.
● Fundraise: Hold an Annual Fundraiser on September 17th, 2025, build further
funding cornerstone partnerships and create a donor base.
● Training: Provide safeguarding training to the team.
● Partnerships: Doubling Down on the Success of our Open Days and create
Internship Opportunities through more partnership building across our network of
creative industries.
The charity is a company limited by guarantee.
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:
None of the trustees have any beneficial interest in the company, and all trustees are members of the company and guarantee to contribute £1 in the event of a winding up.
In accordance with the company's articles, a resolution proposing that David Howard 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 Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust 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.
Independent Auditors' Report to the Members of Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust
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 Auditors’ responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable 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.
Conclusions relating to going concern
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the ISAs (UK) require us to report to you where:
the Trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is not appropriate; or
the Trustees have not disclosed in the financial statements any identified material uncertainties that may cast significant doubt about the Charity’s ability to continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting for a period of at least twelve months from the date when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
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, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, 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.
Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:
the information given in the Trustees’ report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
the Trustees’ report (incorporating the strategic report and the Trustees’ report) has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the Charity and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees’ Annual Report. We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
adequate accounting records have not been kept or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us;
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns;
certain disclosures of Trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
we have not obtained all the information and explanations necessary for the purposes of our audit.
As explained more fully in the Trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 9, the Trustees 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 they 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 Charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
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 it 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.
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:
Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:
the engagement partner ensured that the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
we identified the laws and regulations applicable to the Charity through discussions with Trustees and other management, and from our commercial knowledge and experience of the Charity sector;
we focused on specific laws and regulations which we considered may have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the Charity, including such as the Charities Act 2011, taxation legislation, data protection, anti-bribery, and health and safety legislation;
we assessed the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management and inspecting legal correspondence; and
identified laws and regulations were communicated within the audit team regularly and the team remained alert to instances of non-compliance throughout the audit.
We assessed the susceptibility of the Charity’s financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:
making enquiries of management as to whether they considered there was susceptibility to fraud, their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud;
considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations; and
to address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:
performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;
tested journal entries to identify unusual transactions.
investigated the rationale behind significant or unusual transactions
In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:
agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation;
reading the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance;
enquiring of Trustees as to actual and potential litigation and claims;
reviewing correspondence with relevant regulators
There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of non-compliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the Trustees and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.
Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council's website at: [www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities]. This description forms part of our auditor's report.
Other matters
The year ended 31 March 2025 was the first year in which the financial statements were audited. The comparative figures in the financial statements are therefore unaudited.
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the Charity’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the Charity’s members 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 members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 with respect to accounting records and the preparation of financial statements.
These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime and section 138 of the Charities Act 2011.
Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is First Floor, 14-15 Berners Street, London, W1T 3LJ.
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 charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities 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 £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance 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.
Grant income is recognised when the grant proceeds are received (or receivable) provided that the terms of the grant do not impose future performance-related conditions. If the terms of a grant do impose performance-related conditions, the grant is only recognised in income when the performance-related conditions are met.
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 are allocated on the portion of the asset’s use.
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).
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.
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.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
The charity is exempt from taxation on its activities because all its income is applied for charitable purposes.
The freehold property is stated at cost. A residual value of £500,000 has been applied, representing the estimated amount expected to be recovered at the end of the asset’s useful life. The property had not yet been brought into use at the year end and, accordingly, no depreciation has been charged in the current year.
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.
There have been no related party transactions in the year.
After the reporting date, discussions commenced regarding the possible departure of a senior employee. No agreement has been reached and the outcome remains uncertain. As the event arose after the reporting date and does not provide evidence of conditions existing at that date, it is treated as a non-adjusting event under FRS 102. Accordingly, no provision has been recognised in these financial statements.