Our Finances

Annual Report 2023

Our financial year runs to the 31st March. The latest accounts available are for the year to 31st March 2023. You can download the full report here.

Financial highlights (with previous year’s figures in brackets)

Income: £2,149,472 (£2,032,344)
Expenditure: £2,134,767 (£2,001,020)

Where did the money come from?

Voluntary donations: £12,300 (£20,696)
Investment income: £794 (£2,409)
Charitable activities: £1,989,276 (£2,144,617)
Other: £22,864 (£19,963)

What did we spend it on?

Raising Funds: £7,781 (£5,865)
Charitable Activities: £2,126,986 (£1,995,155)

Report of our Chair, Jan Prior

2022-23 has been a year of moving forward after a Pandemic induced status quo – maintaining and sustaining in contrast to SoLO’s years of growth and development. The Board of Trustees, having carefully ensured stability and sound financial governance with an emphasis on ‘cash being king’, has had confidence to do a thorough strategic review and explore new opportunities to be delivered over the next 3 years.

Direction is always informed by listening to others, testing the external environment, identifying needs and gaps in services as well as reviewing opportunities for collaborative working with other organisations to the benefit of the people that SoLO serves. It is evident SoLO continues to be a lead organisation in Solihull for supporting people with disabilities, primarily Learning Disabilities and it is proud to have achieved this but is not complacent. We know there is always room for improvement and learning from experience.

SoLO’s significant investment in digital systems is paying dividends with assurance for compliance to the requirements of Regulatory bodies and is supportive for both service users and staff.

With worldwide Eco concerns, the Board have invested in improving its heating and lighting at its base in Walnut Close to meet sustainability requirements and reduce its overheads.

The opportunities afforded to SoLO during its time as Solihull Chamber of Commerce Charity of Year have been invaluable and we are grateful for their support and contacts.

The Board of Trustees have been dedicated and committed during the year and we were pleased to welcome Jayne Hume to our trustee team. Jayne brings a diversity of experience with her to the voluntary role. I am deeply grateful to all the Trustees for their support and guidance to SoLO and all the staff/volunteer team. I so often witness people going above and beyond to achieve great outcomes for our service users.