Shaw Trust has disposed of one of its Australian subsidiaries, contributing to a 20 per cent increase in the charity’s income.
In the accounts for the year ending March 2015, which have recently been filed with Companies House, the charity for disabled and disadvantaged people says that the significant income increase is down to a number of mergers and acquisitions, as well as the disposal of Australian subsidiary Interwork Limited.
Interwork was sold to employment services provider Wise Employment in November 2014.
As part of the agreement £1.1m was transferred to Shaw Trust, which has been invested in Shaw Trust Western Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shaw Trust which was also formed in November 2014.
The Shaw Trust has seen its income increase by 19.8 per cent on the previous year, up to £129.2m, with £22.8m of this attributed to net assets taken on with mergers and transfers.
In October 2014 it set up an educational arm, which had been approved by the Department for Education in the summer. Three schools converted to become academies - the Blackfriars, Coppice and Walton Hall Academies - and become part of the Shaw Education Trust Multi Academy Trust.
It acquired over £20m from acquiring the three special schools, and the Disabled Living Trust – which merged into the charity in November 2014.
The merger of the Disabled Living Foundation resulted in £2.1m in net assets being acquired by the Shaw Trust. The DLF retained its name, identity and staff following the merger.
However, despite this overall increase in income, the income from charitable activities is down by £2.3m to £103.4m. This came due to a decrease of this amount in its income from contract delivery, social enterprises and other charitable activity. The accounts attribute this to a fall in the number of people being put forward to its work programmes.
The accounts state: “Overall the economic conditions in the main UK market continue to be challenging and whilst the Trust’s underlying performance improved in the year, the reduction in clients referred to the main welfare to work programmes has resulted in an overall fall in net incoming resources from charitable activities.”
The total number of employees that the Shaw Trust has grew by 214 people to 1,831. Two employees earned between £180,000 and £190,000.
The Shaw Trust has said that by 2020 it hopes to increase the number of people it helps every year fivefold, from 10,000 to at least 50,000.
Ken Olisa, chair, said that in order for this to happen, and also to make a major increase in its delivery capability, it is looking at the organisation’s structure and processes “to make sure that that we are an organisation fit for purpose in the fight to transform fifty thousand lives”. He said that this review will “encompass everything from physical facilities to IT systems”.
