2019

AnnualReview

berkshireyouth.co.uk

Supporting,empoweringand inspiringyoung people

What is good youth work?

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What is good youth work? Community rising to the challenge of austerityOur workThank youFinancial summaryStructure, governance and managementContact

Youth’ is the developmental phase between childhood and adulthood. Typically this starts around the beginning of puberty and finishes in late teens but for many young people, dependent on personal, social and economic factors, it can start and or finish much later.

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Berkshire YouthIn this world of ‘so much’ we have to spend time with young people, supporting them to find out what is real, who they are and who they can be, with social media, surveillance capitalism and school league tables all providing influence and opinion.

The work of Berkshire Youth is to provide time out and space for young people to meet new people to try new things and experience adventure and all go to help balance a decision and create equipped thoughtful and mindful young people.

With over 4,400 young people trying a new sport, 111 young leaders graduating from the Berkshire Youth leader’s academy, 987 young first aiders over 1,000 hours of school holiday activities. Contributing to the 12,000 young people supported by Berkshire Youth throughout the year. Many thanks to our supporters, staff and friends.

W E Jim Leftwich OBE, Chairman

David Seward, CEO

Youth work focuses on personal and social development, the skills and attributes of young people, not to ‘fix a problem’. It is an educational process that engages young people in a curriculum that deepens a young person’s understanding of themselves, their community and the world in which they live and supports them to proactively bring about positive changes. Therefore youth work needs to be (and be seen to be) transformational, a harnessing of the skills of young people and is not fulfilled by formal education.

– Youth work provides a safe place to be creative

– Provides and develops a social network and friendships

– Positive role models; trusted adults who know what is needed

Purpose of youth workYouth work is a distinct educational process adapted across a variety of settings to support a young person’s personal, social and educational development.

– To explore their values, beliefs, ideas and issues

– To enable them to develop their voice, influence and place in society

– To acquire a set of practical or technical skills and competencies, to realise their full potential

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7Community risingto the challengeof austerity

Seven core competencies

1 Confidence and agencySelf-reliance, self-esteem, self-efficacy, self-belief, ability to shape your own lifeand the world around you.

2 Planning and problem solvingNavigating resources, organising, setting and achieving goals, decision making, researching, analysing, critical thinking, questioning and challenging, evaluating risk, reliability.

3 Relationships and leadershipMotivating others, valuing and contributing to team working, negotiating, establishing positive relationships, interpreting others, managing conflict, empathising.

4 CreativityImagining alternative ways of doing things, applying learning in new contexts, enterprising, innovating, remaining open to new ideas.

5 Resilience and determinationSelf-disciplined, self-management, self-motivated, concentrating, having a sense of purpose, persistent, self-controlled.

6 Managing feelingsReviewing, self-awareness, reflecting, self-regulating, self-accepting.

7 CommunicationExplaining, expressing, presenting, listening, questioning, and using different ways of communication.

Each of our projects and programmes considers these seven core competencies during planning and delivery.

These competencies are based on the findings of Young’s Foundation Framework of outcomes for young people (2012) and help ensure that across our projects and programmes we make a well-rounded offer to young people, giving them the best chance to fulfil their potential.

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The extreme pressure on Berkshire Youth finances continued as austerity cuts to the statutory sector continued to bite and as a consequence we saw more and more demand, with young people unable to access early intervention and preventative support.

However, we started the year predicting a large deficit but as this year’s accounts show we have managed to keep the losses to a minimum. This year we have seen some great support from individuals, Corporates and Trusts and although it is hard to pick out individuals, this year I wanted to make a mention of just a few, which includes:

Our Patron The Lord Lieutenant of the Royal County of Berkshire, James Puxley and his wife Debbie, who not only hosted a concert on the Welford Park Estate and fed our guests, but also made us a beneficiary of the annual Welford Park Gardens Snow Drop display, a huge effort by the Welford Park team.

We brought back the golf day which supported us financially and introduced many new friends and supporters to our work. A big effort by the organisers who did this all for free to support the work we are doing across Berkshire.

We also received great support from Volume, an artificial intelligence company based in Wokingham, who made us their charity of the year. A big thank you also to ConvaTec who have supported our leadership projects and funded the young people to train and attend the 100 mile canoe test.

The Board of Berkshire Youth recognise the difficulty in raising funds and the level of competition out there for an ever decreasing pot of money, but the Board saw the need to invest and have appointed a Marketing Manager to look at our online presence. This is starting to make a difference as we are seeing more online articles reaching more readers, which in turn has raised funds for Berkshire Youth.

The Catanian Society and Painters against Poverty both donated as a direct result of seeing us online and reading about the work we do. As a result of all this support, our message is more positive and upfront.

We are still collecting data to evidence the journey young people make, to justify the work we do and prove that it works in the long term. A young person’s journey is neither straight forward nor simple and we need to try and support over the duration and avoid short term quick fixes. There is a lot to be said about ’The Village’ raising a child and Berkshire Youth are part of that picture but we still need more volunteers and local people to join us on the journey, we need more leaders, followers and activators who can drum up support and help young people become the best adult they can possibly be.

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Street workWe have introduced specialist youth teams to interact and build relationships with young people where they ‘hang out’; shopping precincts and parks late at night; encouraging the young person from the streets to turn to local youth activities. Funding from the Home Office and The Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley has enabled us to reach out to more areas across Berkshire.

Field workWe continue to work with community partners, encouraging the implementation of a well-supported, resourced and engaging offer for young people across communities, including support through youth consultations.

Club supportSupporting specific clubs and projects to ensure they make a quality offer to young people, continues to be an essential part of what we do. We support clubs to maintain nationally recognised standards with regard to safeguarding, club management and involving young people. 38 clubs across Berkshire have taken advantage of our support which is atestimony to the energy and enthusiasm a handful of volunteers in committing to providing a local offer for young people.

FusionIs a transition programme for young people from years 6 to 7 and works both as a school based offer and works in the community to engage with the young people who may be at risk of not making the best life choices.• In total Fusion has worked with 731 young people • 250 young people based in the community • Supported 16 schools with the transition offer to year 7.

Sports Leisure and Activities Team (SPLAT)• Delivered 175 community activity sessions • Engaged 4,613 young people in activity.

After schools coaching programme • 492 sessions delivered • 4,494 young people tried out and participated in activity sessions• 2,203 girls and 2,291 boys.

Cricket project• 44 sessions delivered to 707 young girls.

Youth Leadership Academy • 111 young leaders have graduated from Berkshire Youth’s Leadership Academy this year• The 111 leadership academy graduates have come from six different groups or projects (Britwell, Fusion, two at Mary Hare School, The Wayz, Berkshire Youth’s leadership summer residential and two at Bradfield College)• Included four residential experiences • 14 graduated young leaders from previous cohorts have come back to support 2018-19 delivery• As a result of the leadership academy a minimum of 1,923 hours have been committed to volunteering.

Training• 40 different first aid sessions delivered across Berkshire within primary schools, secondary schools, colleges, youth clubs and projects• 987 young people trained in first aid through a variety of sessions. From 1 hour introductions to first aid to full day Emergency First Aid at Work qualifications• Based on the assumption that each student completed 30 chest compressions, the 987 young people completed a total of 29,610 chest compressions.

Duke of Edinburgh The DofE scheme offers access to the programme for young people who cannot engage with DofE through their school. We have seen our project continue to grow and this year we had 35 enrolled, 67 working through and 14 completions, an increase of 86%.

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Our work

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Fit 4 YouthThe Fit 4 Youth programme is a unique health and well-being project designed for children and young people to help them make the right choices around an informed lifestyle.• 38 sessions delivered • 246 young people actively engaged and had a positive outcome.

Activities

Berkshire Youth offers an annual activity programme for young people to get out of their local area to try something new or to have a different experience. This year our programme included:• Trip to Wembley • Water park and Aqua Inflatables • A residential stay at the outdoor centre Rhos-y-Gwaliau• Ice skating • Go-karting • Trampolining.

In total 214 young people were involved in the Activities programme engaged over 950 hours of positive activities.

The WayzAs a safe space for young people The Wayz has continued to grow the offer to include outreach work and to build on the Volunteer framework enabling more young people to become role models; supporting the programme ensuring an appropriate competent staff term can deliver locally; engaging with over 330 young people weekly, including holiday camps.

The Britwell Youth and Community project The Britwell project is still developing and expanding its offer, with the training and leadership programme helping to identify young leaders and has made progress. The project works with over 380 young people per week, which includes summer camps and holiday schemes, engaging with and supporting young people who would otherwise be on the streets.

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Thank you

Reverend Denise Lady BrownReverend Denise Lady Brown was appointed to the board of Berkshire Youth on the 1st of July 2008 and served as the Chair of the Trustees from 2017 until her resignation from the board in 2019. Denise has been an ambassador and strong advocate for young people having joined Berkshire Youth as a representative and founder of the Downlands Youth Network. Denise was active for many years prior to joining the board in ensuring that young people living in the rural communities of West Berkshire had fair representation and support, Denise has been our champion, our guide and good friend for many years, Denise we all thank you and wish you all the very best.

Shirley CookeShirley Cooke, retired as trustee of Berkshire Youth on the 18th of October 2018 and was part of the team that appointed the current CEO in 1999, Shirley is a great friend to Berkshire Youth, full of energy enthusiasm a real positive force.

Shirley gave so much of her time to the young people of Berkshire and in helping us all in the office. Thank you to Shirley for her commitment and passion for our work.

During 2019 expenditure exceeded income by £39,565.

During 2018-19 there continued to be excessive pressures on the income of Berkshire Youth against the demand for additional projects and programmes.

Reserves policy Reserves in the financial statements are currently £367,159 (2018 £406,724). Reserves represent restricted and unrestricted funds and are held in accordance with Charity Commission Guidelines as follows:

– In furtherance of the charity’s objectives in the short and long term

– To provide funds which can be designated to specific projects to enable these projects to be undertaken at short notice; and

– To cover administration, fundraising and support costs without which the charity could not function

The current aim of the Trustees is to maintain our resources at the highest level in order to maintain our direct charitable activities during this very difficult transition in funding, whilst supporting the direct delivery of services to young people.

Governing documentThe charity is controlled by its governing document,a deed of trust, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006, reviewed and updated 2017.

Organisation structureBerkshire Youth is a registered charity and a limited company; as such the Trustees are also Directorsand where we use the term Director it also implies Trustee. It currently has six Directors, who meet quarterly and are responsible for the strategicdirection and policies of the charity. The Directors come from a range of professional backgrounds relevant to the work of the charity. The Secretary and Honorary Treasurer sit on the committee, but have no voting rights.

A scheme of delegation is in place and day to day responsibility for provision of services rests with the Chief Executive Officer along with theOperations Director and Financial Administrator.

The Chief Executive Officer is responsible for ensuring that the charity delivers the services specified and that key performance indicatorsare met. The Operations Director hasresponsibility for the day to day management of the team and oversight of contracts, ensuring staff have regular supervision and access to training which will enhance skills and working practice in line with good practices.

Remuneration of key personnelThe Directors are responsible for setting the pay and remuneration of key management personnel.Remuneration is set once certain factors are considered. These factors include market rates of pay and benchmarks against other charities.

Recruitment and appointment of DirectorsThe Directors of the company are also charity trustees for the purpose of the charity law.They are elected for three years, after whichthey must be re-elected at the Annual General Meeting. All Directors of Berkshire Youth give their time voluntarily and receive no benefitsfrom the charity.

The focus of the work of Berkshire Youth is on young people, and the Directors represent members of the community who can support andinfluence the objectives of the charity.Berkshire Youth works to identify representation from young peopleon the board of the charity.

Directors’ induction and trainingDirectors of Berkshire Youth are assigned to a member of the staff team to understand the day to day delivery of services. New Directors areprovided with an induction book, job description and relevant governing documents alongsidethe ‘essential trustee’ booklets provided bythe Charity Commission. Additional traininghas been undertaken through Almond TreeStrategic Consulting.

Risk managementThe Directors have identified and regularly review the risks to which the charity is exposed. Aspart of this process, the Directors have in placeappropriate controls to provide reasonableassurance against fraud and error.

The Directors have clear policies outlining their expectations for service delivery. The policies include risk assessment of all activities to ensure the safeguarding of the young people, employees and Directors, including the Patron, Presidentand Vice Presidents.

Structure, governance and management

Expenditure on charitable activities in 2019The charity supported young people throughout the county by delivering a range of 23 projects and activities. The total expenditure was £491,183 with the main focus summarised as follows:

Activities(Leisure, sport, healthy lifestyle)

Training and development(Leadership and learning opportunities)

Clubs(Providing support to youth clubs)

Support and governance costs(These are costs incurred to ensurethe effective delivery of allcharitable activities)

Action(Supporting volunteers to take positiveaction in their community)

£189,741(38.6%)

£67,229(13.6%)

£152,752(31%)

£75,341(15.3%)

£6,120(1.5%)

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How wespent ourmoney inthe last year

Financialsummary

2019

AnnualReview

berkshireyouth.co.uk

Supporting,empoweringand inspiringyoung people

Watlington House44 Watlington StreetReading, Berkshire RG1 4RJ

T 0118 909 0927E admin@berkshireyouth.co.ukwww.berkshireyouth.co.uk

Berkshire Youth would be delighted to work with you as we continue to develop new opportunities for young people. We are keen to build relationships with local companies, to engage with local young people, and to manage volunteer engagement. If you can support in donating time, money or resources for the development of Berkshire Youth, our projects, and the young people we serve, please get in touch.

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