ARTICLE_1_CHARITABLE_TRUS - Accounts

The trustees present their report and financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2019.

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the accounts and comply with the charitable company'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)” (as amended for accounting periods commencing from 1 January 2016)

The charitable company's objects are the advancement of the education of the public about war and peace, human rights, the environment and democracy and to research issues of public policy in relation to war and peace, human rights, the environment and democracy (and publish the results of such research).

Mission

To support Sudanese asylum-seekers and refugees to build meaningful lives in the UK.

Vision

A Sudanese-British community leading fulfilling lives, and contributing to local and national life in UK while working for an inclusive, diverse, and peaceful Sudan.

Strategic aims

• To provide a range of responsive, quality services to support Sudanese refugees to build meaningful lives in UK.

• To increase awareness of the needs of Sudanese refugees and to influence local, national, and international policy and service development in relation to Sudan.

• To develop a strong and sustainable organisation so that it may achieve its strategic aims.

Values

Trust

Neutrality

Empowerment

Integrity

Transparency

Wider context

Public protests against the regime began in December 2018, sparking a political crisis in Sudan. The country’s longstanding President, Omar al Bashir, was forced to step down on 11 April 2019. While he has not yet been brought to justice for historical crimes, he has been imprisoned for charges of corruption. This gives some closure to the over a decade we have spent campaigning for justice and accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Darfur.

However, the protests themselves brought new sources of trauma and tension. They were often met with brutal violence, including notably on 3 June, when a sit-in site in central Khartoum being used by demonstrators was stormed by forces constituted of former Janjaweed fighters. They killed over 128, raped over 70, and dumped bodies in the Nile.

Eventually a power-sharing and then constitutional agreement was reached between the military, in the form of a self-appointed Transitional Military Council (TMC), and civilian forces. But its legitimacy remains in question, and old questions about identity and belonging to the state linger, threatening to derail the current three-year transitionary period before elections. This is a crucial period of vigilance for us and our clients, who remain deeply affected by events back home. As such, the revolution in Sudan has framed much of our activity over the past year, and will continue to influence our work in 2020 and beyond.

The trustees of the charity have given due regard and adhere to the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit.

Aim 1: To provide a range of responsive, quality services to support Sudanese refugees to build meaningful lives in UK 

Casework

This area of our work remains a priority, not least as the Home Office have been keen to translate changed circumstances in Sudan into the argument that Sudan is now entirely safe to return rejected asylum-seekers. This is despite our crucial work to update case law on the country, described below. Despite a hiatus while the situation was in flux over the 2019 summer, we are now witnessing fresh attempts to remove rejected asylum-seekers, or those classed foreign national ex-offenders. We are also seeing increased efforts to make initial (mostly negative) decisions on the considerable number of backlogged claims, which according to Home Office statistics stood at 664 in 2018, up from 28 in 2016. Sudan remains in the top six countries of origin for UK asylum claims according to the most recently quarterly statistics. We envision the need for our work continuing to grow.

We have had to consider new approaches to meet increased casework demand, including in this year the delivery of two legal clinics in collaboration with prominent immigration and public law firm, Duncan Lewis Solicitors. The first was delivered in London at the Garden Court Chambers in October 2018, during which approximately 40 individuals received legal advice. In feedback 100% of respondents agreed they felt better able to deal with their situation following the clinic, and 94% felt less alone. Many of these individuals have since taken important steps in their case, obtaining lawyers, lodging fresh claims, receiving housing, or attending our training sessions. A barrister who attended said, “You guys are heroes, staying with it through thick and thin, pushing for openings for the wonderful people I met and I wish I could have spent more time with a couple of weeks back.”

The second legal clinic was held in Bradford in July 2019. We had arranged a preliminary visit to the city, and to neighbouring Huddersfield, in April 2019, hearing directly from asylum-seekers there that the city was a legal aid desert. On the day we saw 14 clients, who were given extensive legal advice and casework support. In feedback, 100% of respondents agreed that they felt better informed about their current asylum position and had been able to plan the next steps to take in their case. People stated that “getting new information about my case” and “knowing more about your legal situation as an asylum seeker” were the most useful parts of the day. In addition to this, 100% of respondents felt less alone and more positive about being part of the Sudanese community due to the legal clinic.

We have secured some big wins for individuals, including campaigners associated with the revolutionary movement in Sudan. We have drafted support letters, and attended court personally. We are increasingly looking to recover costs for such activity from the Legal Aid Agency. We have received positive feedback from lawyers and barristers that although the Home Office is ultimately responsible for status decisions, our interventions make it more likely that clients with credible claims will achieve leave to remain.

We also continue to provide crisis support, reducing the incidence of immigration detention, destitution, suicidal risk, and threat of deportation. We have overseen the distribution of hardship funds or other practical items like light clothes for someone who described he only had winter clothes during the summer 2019 heatwave, or someone who needed shoes to take part in the Refugee Tales walk, discussed further below.

The emotional support we were required to offer clients has taken increased precedence over the past year, largely in reflection of re-traumatising events in Sudan, which has had unexpected effects on individuals. We have counselled whole communities when one of their members was detained in a mental health facility, or when there were (false) accusations of terrorism. Some community leaders have expressed to us that they feel they are at the coal face of a mental health crisis, so this is an issue to which we want to devote some attention in 2019-2020.

With regards to efforts to support those in immigration detention, our Sudanese Visitors’ Group (SVG) continues to grow, and our links and contacts with other visitor groups means this is an increasing referral pathway to us. We have benefitted from new members to our SVG, following an increased number of offers of volunteering, discussed below. We maintained our regular participation in the activities of our membership body, the Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees (AVID), attending training on trauma in July 2019, and their August 2019 conference.

The monitoring and evaluation methods we instituted last year have started bearing fruit, and we now frequently check we are performing against our indicators by consulting with our clients, including via culturally sensitive questionnaires and surveys. We ask our clients if they report improved well-being and confidence; whether they feel safe; less isolated; and if they possess a stronger sense of both their Sudanese and British identities following our interventions. We also track one of our organisational values of trust by monitoring numbers of client referrals that come from individuals themselves or via the community - this figure stands at 75%.

Women’s groups

Our women’s groups remain safe spaces where women, who arrive in the UK isolated or traumatised, can improve their wellbeing, and help one another with integration. Alongside long-standing commitments to groups nationwide, like London and Birmingham, we have developed new and strong connections with women’s groups in Bradford and Huddersfield, undertaking a visit to them in April 2019 during which we also delivered training on democratic engagement discussed below, and also with groups in Brighton, Coventry, and with groups representing Nuba women.

The women who attend the London women’s group are becoming fierce campaigners in their own right, and have led a process of developing training on women’s empowerment. We first inspired this group via a Suffragette tour of London we arranged. They then made a test visit to Cardiff in November 2018, reaching over 30 women and their children from all Sudanese backgrounds living in the city, something we were told had not been achieved to date. We simply invited the women to learn about their own internal wells of confidence, as well as about ways to share and tackle problems together. It is this kind of belonging that can help individuals overcome experiences of war, trauma, and loss.

Those who attended agreed: 95.2% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the event helped them feel more positive about being part of the Sudanese community, and the same percentage said the event made them feel listened to, and also confident; 90.4% said they felt safe, and almost 90% said it had made them feel better able to deal with their situation. One woman said the most useful part of the day was simple, just “being among Sudanese women”.

Towards the end of this year we turned our attention to repeating this training with women in Bolton in a session planned for mid-October 2019. We have received other requests for such support. We maintain our plans for a large-scale conference on issues facing UK-Sudanese women in late 2020, the planning for which will be a large part of our activities over the coming year.

Training

At the request of our clients we continued to prioritise their access to British democracy, which promotes personal empowerment, but also new and creative routes for voice and influence and education having received a grant for this purpose from the Cyril Taylor Charitable Foundation.

• We strengthened our partnership with the Parliamentary Outreach service to bring training to diaspora hubs nationwide, including in Birmingham in May 2019, Huddersfield in July 2019, and in London in September 2019. At training we ourselves delivered in Huddersfield in April 2019 we invited the local MP’s researcher, and the woman expressed the desire to undertake a group trip to Parliament. Feedback from these sessions is positive, with 100% of participants saying it helps them connect the work of politicians to their day-to-day lives. We continue to receive requests to facilitate the work of the Parliamentary Outreach team elsewhere, for instance in Liverpool and Bradford.

• We had earlier encouraged several of the Huddersfield women’s group leaders to attend Parliament at an ‘MP drop-in’ and green carding training we ran in March 2019. Of the experience, MP Barry Sheerman said, “I was thrilled that wonderful women from the Huddersfield Sudanese Women’s Group recently paid me a visit in Westminster. Politics is decided by those who show up and participate, so I am encouraged and grateful that these women took the time to personally raise important issues close to their hearts with me at Parliament. Unfortunately these days the green card system is seldom used. I only receive two or three of them a year. But it is important to understand that this system is the right of all my constituents because the Parliament belongs to all of us. It is my duty to meet the people I represent when they come to meet me. I am proud to have such an active and passionate group of women in my constituency and look forward to working together in the future.”

• This March 2019 MP drop-in brought many concerned activists to the heart of our democracy at a time when their concerns for Sudan were at their peak. We made sure to arm them with relevant briefings where requested, but the experience was about their personal empowerment.

• The March 2019 session built on the success of our training on democratic engagement offered in November 2018, when we arranged for a group to hear direct from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Sudans (APPG), as well as for especially Nuba women to hear from long-time advocate for their cause, Baroness Caroline Cox.

Case law

We have been intimately involved over the past year in two separate Country Guidance cases. In January 2019 we prepared a 122-page report on the risks to non-Arab Darfuris in Khartoum further to a Country Guidance case on this topic, also attending court to defend our conclusions. The Upper Tribunal’s decision was recently promulgated, and our evidence that Darfuris remain at risk was accepted by the judges. This is a major win for our clients, whose right to asylum has been successfully defended, as well as for asylum-seekers across Europe, whose own home ministries treat British thinking on this issue with great respect. This Country Guidance case has the potential to affect a potentially huge client group.

Throughout the summer and into autumn 2019 we also produced evidence on the Nuba ethnicity further to a pending Country Guidance case on this topic. Again, this work is time-consuming, but can meaningfully affect the rights of thousands.

We also continue to lead efforts to compile European cases of post-return risk, receiving increasing referrals to determine the status of those returned to the country, and liaising with leading international organisations in this space.

Aim 2: To increase awareness of the needs of Sudanese refugees and to influence local and national policy and service development in relation to Sudan

We highly value our unique position as a service provider for the Sudanese diaspora and a trusted ‘critical friend’ to a wide range of individuals and organisations operating in the Sudan policy and practice landscape. We act as a hub for: advice and information, provision of support to the Sudanese diaspora; in-depth, non-partisan cultural and political insight and understanding; expert opinion; and developing links and facilitating dialogue. This strand of our work had increased relevance this year, particularly as events in country meant the UK-Sudanese community felt the need to influence UK support and engagement.

In early January 2019 civil society activists within the diaspora approached us to use our trusted and neutral platform to help them overcome divisions, themselves the legacy of ‘divide and rule’ policies in Sudan, and to discuss reconciliation. We helped convene 4 large roundtable meetings, starting on 9 February at the symbolic St. Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace in London, then with further meetings on 24 March and 16 June in London, culminating in a Cardiff meeting on 14 July. These were not just one-off events, we also oversaw and helped develop a planning committee of volunteers to run these roundtables, a process including dozens of hours of individual and group phone conversations, or in-person meetings after hours, for instance at our office on 13 September.

This is because the format of meetings was so novel to the community. We knew something different had to be done to cut through and help community members uncover deeply held sources of tension and difference. We advised that those that attended these meetings did so as equals, and set aside their tribal, political, or professional ‘hats’ at the door. At the event in Cardiff on 14 July the theme of youth was chosen – with hundreds of young people, including second-generation Sudanese, attending and expressing their desire to have a stake in Sudan’s future, with creative forms of resistance including poetry, dance, and art. This new approach meant the crowd could enter a deeper collective space, and they ended up discussing ‘Sudan’s shame’, or legacy of using rape as a weapon of war.

We have also helped the community shape a new project to honour the creative forms of revolution seen in Khartoum. When demonstrators staged a sit-in in front of army headquarters in the city, artists covered every inch of the square with revolutionary artwork, the type of activity forbidden under the Bashir regime. But the sit-in site was subject to a brutal crackdown on 3 June, mentioned above. The massacre was not some far-away event, many British-Sudanese were themselves present, telling their stories to media like The Economist with our help and connections. Still more were re-traumatised by news from home. The Sudanese community approached us shortly afterwards to suggest we help them form an exhibition of the artwork that could be used to heal. We did so, launching in Parliament in July 2019, also helping coordinate an exhibition in a central London location in September 2019 alongside Mercy Corps. We also worked with The Wiener Library to archive these documents as historically important records, something our clients found deeply validating.

We were forthright in ensuring that this display included historical children’s drawings of genocide collected in refugee camps in Chad in 2007 by sister NGO Waging Peace, as well as those newer images collected during our trip to Yida refugee camp in November/December 2018, discussed under the third strategic aim below. This is because there was a danger that by only reflecting crimes committed in the centre of Sudan, that we and the community with whom we were collaborating would risk entrenching centre-periphery divides and tensions. We were pleased when in August 2019 the Wiener Library agreed to archive the 60+ images we collected during our trip alongside our earlier Darfur donation.

They also accepted a 60,000-strong petition that sister NGO Waging Peace gathered in 2007, under the proviso that we collaborate to maximise the value of this donation by transcribing and translating entries. As Sudan potentially moves into a new phase historically, the healing potential of proper documentation, acknowledgement, and memorialisation efforts becomes apparent. We are keen to ensure that materials in our possession are kept in peak condition for Sudan’s posterity.

In addition to our training on democratic engagement, mentioned above, we were also able to arrange specific chances for our clients to speak truth to power:

• For instance alongside the APPG where they were able to consult Members before a Westminster Hall debate secured in June 2019, as well as on other occasions;

• Direct with the most senior civil servant working on Sudan, UK Special Representative Robert Fairweather, on three (21 Jan, 10 May, 13 June) occasions;

• In bilaterals between ourselves and key policy figures, as with Andrew Mitchell in an April 2019 meeting, or with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Sudan desk;

• And via briefings produced independently or alongside partners like atrocity prevention charity Protection Approaches.

We also continued to facilitate contact between the Sudanese diaspora and other conflict-affected groups, arranging for activists to attend a large-scale Syrian conference organised by Syria Solidarity UK in July 2019. At times we also connected certain sections of Sudanese society to one another – for instance linking older, more established civil society activists to their younger counterparts who had been the lifeblood of the Sudanese uprising online, arranging a seminar on the historical background of conflict in Sudan, with a trial session in June 2019.

We continued to meet with prominent Sudanese civil society activists or human rights defenders as they passed through the UK, including in December 2018 with Darfuri singer Omer Ihsas who sang at our May 2018 All Sudan Cultural Day; Dr Tom Catena, the only surgeon still operating in the Nuba Mountains in January 2019, prominent women’s rights activist Dr Ihsan Fagiri in April 2019 (she predicted the devastating 3 June massacre in a now-eerie video we posted to Facebook at her urging); and with US-based activist Eric Cohen in June 2019.

In January 2019 we contributed to Holocaust Memorial Day programme. Sudan’s presence as part of this programming is crucial to ensuring visibility of the issue among the public, also allowing those who attend the chance to use their voice on a truly national, and even international, stage. The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) has said they could not arrange the Darfur element of their programming without our help. We are planning ahead for HMD 2020, the theme of which is ‘Stand together’. For 2019 we:

• Produced the largest ever gathering of Sudanese at the London event (34, up from 23 people).

• Found a survivor to light a candle on stage. The gentleman that did it said of the experience, “To give me that honour to light the candle is one of greatest moments of my humble life.”

• Participated as a member of the HMDT Partnership Group meeting quarterly, and also the Education Advisory Group which meets biannually.

• Served as part of the Imperial War Museum’s expert panel on sexual violence in conflict, with a kick-off meeting in March 2019.

We also continued to regularly and out of hours attend events held by the Sudanese community, including demonstrations, themed events, or even weddings, as listening and network-building exercises. At times this involved outreach to particular community groups, involving trips, for instance to Bradford in April 2019, or to Leicester in July 2019, when an intern went to interview for a dissertation on the issues facing new Sudanese arrivals to the UK.

We also take advantage of any and all opportunities to ourselves speak about Sudan and our work, particularly with university groups like the American Institute for Foreign Study in May 2019, the United Jewish Israel Appeal in June 2019, and with Syracuse University, arranging for students to both visit our office in February 2019, and for us to speak to a class in March 2019.

We continue to chair the UK-Sudan advocacy working group, formerly convened by Crisis Action. It now has 30+ member organisations, comprising the largest INGOs or humanitarian agencies working on or in Sudan. Our direct links and trust with the diaspora make us unique in this group in that we are able to sense-check everything that is happening in the advocacy community with the wishes and needs of the Sudanese community itself. We have arranged several meetings and follow-up over the last year, including meetings with both the outgoing and incoming Special Representatives, and joint submissions to Parliamentary inquiries run by the Select Committees concerning foreign affairs and international development. This work is appreciated by members, one of whom recently said we have “played a critical role as chair of the Sudan working group in leading coordinated advocacy towards the UK government and convening various stakeholders in strategic advocacy and campaigns initiatives.”

The increased presence of Sudan on the news agenda translated into an elevated media presence for our sister NGO Waging Peace, including in places like Sky News, BBC World Service, and The Guardian.

Aim 3: To develop a strong and sustainable organisation so that it may achieve its strategic aims

After the work put in to develop policies and processes in 2017-2018, we started this year on a much stronger footing, and many of the items we developed are now in regular use, in particular our Theory of Change incorporating our mission, vision, and newly our values, as above, and an evaluations framework and dedicated questionnaires to track our performance against indicators tied to client outcomes, discussed above.

We also prioritised governance, specifically close monitoring of our financial situation, with regular check-ins now scheduled between our Chair and staff members, and cashflow oversight by our accountant.

We have prioritised the training of our staff as leaders, engaging fully in peer support networks like the ellaForums, as well as a Lloyds Peer Forum and mentors associated with an earlier Lloyds Bank Foundation grant. We also continue to promote a learning culture among staff, for instance encouraging their attendance at various events and trainings, including at the Refugee Tales walk in July 2019.

The increased prominence of Sudan on the news agenda brought with it an increase in public donations, and we received a precipitous rise in these funds, including via a match-funding campaign run for one week in early December via the Big Give platform, at dedicated events where ticket sales were donated to us, and after the publication of a co-authored Guardian article.

We received a related increase in offers of volunteer and intern support, working with two interns on university placements over the busy summer period, and looking ahead to a three-month internship in autumn/winter 2019. More widely, we continue to manage over 60 active volunteers, whether as representatives for us at events, or as mentors for particularly vulnerable individuals, making the most of our just two full-time staff members. There is a need in 2019-2020 to prepare a robust volunteer recruitment and induction strategy.

We started planning for the development and implementation of a digital strategy at an all-day workshop in September 2019, partly in reflection of the need for the website of our sister NGO Waging Peace to better capture public donations, and to improve external communications and marketing. We discovered that with us doing more, we were able to talk about it less.

Most notably, in November/December 2018 staff undertook a self-funded trip to South Sudan, flying to Juba and then visiting a refugee camp for individuals from Sudan’s Nuba Mountains on the border between the countries in Yida. The outcomes of this trip were manifold. Preparing for it leaves the Article 1 team better prepared to undertake necessary travel safely, securely, and effectively. It helped staff develop a deeper and more nuanced understanding of information and challenges from the ground; improving advocacy and policy suggestions and their impact with decision-makers. It also left Article 1 with the lasting legacy of the children’s images of war in the Nuba Mountains, which will contribute to collective memory of this conflict in the ways outlined above. We maintain our close relationships with the people we met, and communicate advocacy and policy ‘wins’ to them, not as things we have done for us, but as things we have achieved for them, which gives meaningful expression to our organisational value of integrity.

It is the policy of the charitable company that unrestricted funds which have not been designated for a specific use should be maintained at a level equivalent to approximately three month’s expenditure. The trustees considers that reserves at this level will ensure that, in the event of a significant drop in funding, they will be able to continue the charitable company’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.

Article 1 Charitable Trust is registered as a company limited by guarantee (without share capital) no. 05693101 and as a registered charity no. 1124746. Its governing instrument is its memorandum and articles of association. The directors are the members of the company and each member, during his or her membership or within one year afterwards, undertakes to contribute a sum not exceeding £1 to the assets of the company in the event of it being wound up.

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:

New trustees are appointed as required and receive a comprehensive induction on the activities of the charity.

The trustees have assessed the major risks to which the charitable company is exposed, and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks.

Each of the trustees has confirmed that there is no information of which they are aware which is relevant to the audit, but of which the auditor is unaware. They have further confirmed that they have taken appropriate steps to identify such relevant information and to establish that the auditor is aware of such information.

The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.

The trustees, who are also the directors of Article 1 Charitable Trust 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 charitable company 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 2015 (FRS 102);

- 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 charitable company 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 charitable company and enable them to ensure that the accounts comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the charity 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 accounts of Article 1 Charitable Trust (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 30 September 2019 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, and the notes to the accounts, including a summary of 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:

give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company's affairs as at 30 September 2019 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, for the year then ended;

have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

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 accounts section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the accounts 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.

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 charitable company’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.

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit:

the information given in the trustees' Report, which includes the directors’ report prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

the directors’ report included within the trustees' report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees' 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; or

the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or

the trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies’ exemptions in preparing the trustees' report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.

As explained more fully in the statement of trustees' responsibilities, the trustees, who are also the directors of the charitable company 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 charitable company’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.

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.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: http://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 charitable company'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 charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors' 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 charitable company and the charitable company’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.

Article 1 Charitable Trust is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is 14 St Mary's Street, Stamford, Lincolnshire, PE9 2DF.

The place of business is: The Foundry, 17 Oval Way, London, SE11 5RR

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the charitable company'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)” (as amended for accounting periods commencing from 1 January 2016). The charitable company is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.

The charitable company 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 charitable company. 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 charitable company 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.

Designated funds comprise funds which have been set aside at the discretion of the trustees for specific purposes. The purposes and uses of the designated funds are set out in the notes to the accounts.

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.

Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charitable company 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 is recognised once the claim has been made.

Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand and deposits held with banks.

The charitable company 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 charitable company's balance sheet when the charitable company 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.

Debtors and creditors with no stated interest rate and receivable or payable within one year are recorded at transaction price. Any losses arising from impairment are recognised in the statement of financial activities.

The costs of short-term employee costs are recognised as a liability and an expense.

Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.

In the application of the charitable company’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.

Project and community support costs

Travel and subsistence

Rent and utilities

Office costs

Destitute asylum seekers

IT costs

Staff training

Bank charges and interest

Governance costs includes payments to the auditors of £2,370 (2018- £2,244) for audit fees and £458 (2018- £312) for other services.

None of the trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration, benefits or expenses from the charitable company during the year.

The average monthly number of employees during the year was:

Lloyds Bank Foundation - Enable is a grant from Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales to be used to improve the website and client relationship management database.

The destitute asylum seekers fund was set up during 2012 to set aside £2,000 per annum, reduced to £1,000 per annum in 2016, for providing destitute asylum seekers with small sums of money to allow them to purchase essentials such as food, phone credit and bus passes.

During the year the charitable company received donations of £nil (2018: £25,000) from The Tinsley Foundation, a charity of which Mrs R C Tinsley is a trustee.

During the year the charitable company received donations of £25,000 (2018: £nil) from The Henry & Rebecca Tinsley Charitable Trust, a charity of which Mrs R C Tinsley is a trustee.

Mrs R C Tinsley, is a director of Waging Peace and a trustee of Network For Africa. Article 1 Charitable Trust, Network for Africa and Waging Peace share premises, with Article 1 Charitable Trust's contribution to the rent and service charges being £11,498 (2018: £13,594). At 30 September 2019 Waging Peace owed Article 1 Charitable Trust £nil (2018: £792).

During the year the charitable company received donations totalling £18,020 (2018: £3,858) from certain trustees, former trustees and their spouses.