pathway pr?Ject Charity No: 1005976 Company No: 02635912 The Staffordshire Pathway Project (A company Ilmited by guarantee) Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 March 2021 -orTEr', Th• Qu•onS Awml f•rVolunt•ryS•r¥K• LOTTERY FUNDED
Contents Page Vision, mission and values Servite review Reference and administrative details Trustee5' annual report Report of the Independent Auditors 23 Statement of Finantial Activities 26 Balance Sheet 27 Statement of Cash Flows 28 Notes to the Financial Statement5 29
Our Vision To build a fvture where adults and children affected by domestlc and sexual abuse live in safety and fe from fear. Our Mission To ensure that every adult and child who c(iines to us seeking support for domestlc and sexual abuse is glven an opportunity to engage in sebvices that can help them to make the loumey from victlm to subvivor. Our Values To put people at the heart of what we do: At Pathway we believe in being seNice user led. Nobody knows what services and 5UPPOrt are needed, more than the people who access them. We are always here with an open mind and open heart to ensure that we shape futures together. To be the best we can be: No two people are the same. Whether you are a service user. volunteer or member of staff, we are all different. At Pathway we don't believe in a one size fits all approach. Instead we want to celebrate our differences, value opinions and learn from eath other, so that we can provide the best services, in the best way, with the best people. To share our experlentes: Good, bad or funny. We want our service users to feel that they can share their experiences and know that they will be listened to and will contribute towards our development. We want our staff to know that in good and bad time5. our door Is always open and that our shared experience is what drives the strength of the team. At Pathway we wantto share our experiences and collaborate with other specialist organisations, to provide solutions and services that meet the needs of the people we are committed to. To be open: We understand that everyone's journey begins at a different point and at a different time. At Pathway we won't put restrictions on the number of times you can accèss a service, or on the amount of time that has passed before you felt that you could ask for support. We also understand that your needs may not always meet a threshold. but that doesn't make them any less important to you. Thavs why our helpline 15 open access to all. 24 hours a day, 365 days a vear. Whether you need a friendly voice, to know more about our services or help getting support elsewhere, we will be there.
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The Staffordshire Pathway Project Reference and administrative details For the year ended 31 March 2021 Company number Charlty number 2635912 1005976 Country of incorporatlon Country of registration United Kingdom England and Wales Registered office and operational address The Hope Centre 3 Quonian Lane Lichfield Staffordshire WS13 7L8 Pathway Project is the trading name of The Staffordshire Pathway Project Iformerly The Burntwood Pathway Project) Trustees Trustees, who are also directors under company law, who seNed during the year and up to the date of this report were as follows.. Chair Vice Chair Treasurer IAppointed 29 May 20201 IAppointed 20 May 20201 (Resigned 26 June 20201 Key Management Personnel Hayley Baxter Wendy Dee Amanda Barnard Jackie Hughes Lynn Laughton Chief Executive Head of Operations Finance Manager Refuge Manager Volunteer & Training Manager Bankers Natwest Bank 47 Market Street Lichfield WS13 6LE Solicitors Moseleys Compton House 18 Bore Street Lichfield WS13 6LL Auditors Haines Watts Sterling House 97 Lichfield Street Tamworth B79 7QF
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees, annual report For the year ended 31 March 2021 The trustees present their report and the audited financial statements for the year er¢ded 31 March 2021. The reference and administrative information set out on page I forms part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the memorandum and articles of association and the Statement of Recommended Practice- Accounting and Reporting by Charities.. SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102. The trustees, annual report also contains È directors, report as required by company law. Objectives and actlvities The charity'5 object 15 to relieve the physical, mental, emotional, social, financial and sexual distre5S among adults of all ages andlor their children, who have been maltreated or controlled by their partners, family members or persons with whom they were living or having a relationship with, or had made acquaintance of, specialising in gender-based abuse against women and girl5. al Through our services we aim to provide adults and children with safety and 5UPPOrt, whilst they make decisions about their future, and take the opportunity to change their lives in order to live a future in safety and free from fear. bl Our main objectives for the year have been as follows- To effectively plan and manage services so that the minimum amount of disruption is caused to service users by COVID and pandemic reEulations. To support the county to deliver to service users and cope with increased demand during COVID. To have an effective system for remote Wofking and virtual support for service user5 that can be implemented whenever it is required. To provide a programme of group work and support that can be offered virtually, where face to face working is not allowed so that service users can continue to benefit from training opportunities. To collaboratively work with Staffordshire Women's Aid to implement and provide a new county sexual violence service. To support providers across the county by establishing and delivering a specialist County Counselling provision with the support of our Counselling Lead. To develop and implement a Community Engagement Worker to enable us to further improve our reach, content and delivery within the local community and on social media, including linking in with fundraising and joint projects. To plan and facilitate a change of premises for the Hope Centre. To update and launch our new logo. To launch our new website and design and launch a new range of marketing material5. To improve and develop setvices. and to work towards renewing our Women's Aid National Quality Standards kite mark. Our accreditation was extended to five years and there was temporary closure of the process during COVID, so we are now working to the new timescale.
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees, annual report For the year ended 31 March 2021 To continue providing services and to find alternative funding streams that will support us to deliver a full service. To creatively fundraise to SUPPOrt our charitable aims. To develop specialist support for those people presenting with complex needs. To ensure that staff maintain their skills and knowledge through a programme of training and support. To continue to develop our programme of specialist domestic abuse services across Tamworth and Lichfield. To maintain the high level of service we provide through our refuge accommodation. To work in partnership wherever possible $0 that servite users get the best and most holistic service possible. To undertake preventative work and support early intervention opportunities. To support children and young people to recover from abuse and to understand healthy relationships. To provide services offerinE legal advice to those unable to claim legal aid. To continuously work to improve our services. To work together with partners, increasing capacity and improving opportunities and learning. To continue to deliver holistic services which work on meeting needs and supportinE people in full long term recovery after domestic abuse. To continue developing and improving our groups and activities. To continue developing our volunteering opportunities Public Beneflt Pathway Project work5 to provide services which benefit adults and children who have been made vulnerable due to domestic andlor sexual abuse, either within the home, or in their own personal or family relationships. Pathway Project retognises that domestic abuse is a primarily gendered issue and is a specialist women and Birls organisation. Pathway Project also recognises that abuse can affect any person and offers a small range of male virtim services in line with our funding arrangements. Each service that we offer is charitable. open to adults and children suffering abuse, and is free to the user. except in the case of refuge provision where rent and service charges are made. The greater proportion of this is paid by the local authority in the form of Housing Benefit. for women whose income is below the threshold. Our beneficiaries have a charitable need which we aim to address in the many and varied services that we offer, and we are constantly developing our services to ensure that we provide a holistic and inclusive service. The charitable purposes that we meet are- al The prevention or relief of poverty bl The advarbcement of health or the saving of lives cl The relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantages
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees, annual report For the year ended 31 March 2021 The trustees review the aims. objectives and activities of the charity each year. This report looks at what the charity has achieved and the outcomes of its work in the reporting period. The trustee5 report the success of each key activity and the benefits the charity has brought to those groups of people that it IS set up to help. The review also helps the trustees ensure the charity's aims, objectives and artivities remained focused on its stated purposes. The trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity's aims and objectives and in planning its future activities. In partitular, the trustees consider how planned activitie5 will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set. Significant activities Refuge Accommodatlon Enquiries and referrals for refuge space reached our highest peak thi5 year at 900. We were able to house 71 families but had to turn away, refer on or signpost 829, this was up 127% on our previous year. The pandemic also saw an increase in the number of Black and Minority Ethnic IBMEI women looking to access refuge, BME women accounted for 32% of our refuge Service users in 2020121. This year also saw us have our first male victim housed in our move on property. This property provided a safe space for an older gentleman with disabilities who was no lonEer safe in hi5 family home, and allowed us further time to work with other agencies on sourcing supported accommodation for him to move into. Refuge accommodation still remains a vital and much needed service for Pathway Project. As more and more women entering emergency accommodation present with complex needs, refuges have become more than just somewhere to stay and are instead intensive services helping women and families with debt management, tenancy sustainment, life skills, budgeting, literacy and numeracy. Pathway Project had previously recognised an increase in women and families presenting with financial problems, especially debts around housing arrears, which were leading to ongoing issues with regards to being able to secure move on accommodation and we implemented our Financial Abuse Spetialists at the end of March 2020. This means that everyone coming into refuge now has an assessment around all of their financial needs, which allows us to tailor support to ensure that families are leaving refuge with a much tlearer understanding of how to manage their financial independence moving forward. We have continued to see an increase in the number of women presenting with mental health issues,. this was extremely prevalent during the peak of lockdown when we saw a huge increase in the number of referrals being made to us for women who were currently sectioned in hospital. Service users with existing mental health problems struggled considerably with the additional issues raised by lockdown and the general uncertainty and fear that COVID bought, and this placed further pressures on refuge staff in terms of the additional levels of support that needed to be put in place to keep these service users safe. In 2020121 the percentage of women in refuge who were depressedlhad suicidal thought was 52%. up 22% from the previous year. while self-harming as a way to tope was up by 1% to 9%. We also spoke to service users about COVID and how they felt that had impacted them and 61% told us that they felt more isolated from their support networks while 32% felt that it had seriously triggered their mental health or caused them to experience post-traumatic stress disorder IPTSOI symptoms. As always Pathway Project prides itself on the children's services that it is able to offer both to Mum'5 learning how to parent their children independently, 3nd to children and young people directly to
The Staffordshire Pathway Projert Trustees. annual report For the year ended 31 March 2021 enable them to be heard, understood and move forward with their lives. In 2020/21. 78% of the children who entered into refuge were already involved with Children's Seices before their arrival, this wès up 9%from the year before. In April 2021 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government began the proposed changes to how they manage their funding for refuge5, and this was dispersed to County Councils. stsffofdshire County Council made the decision to continue with current funding arrangements and providers while they prepared needs assessments, and got ready to enter into formal commissioning for refuges. Thi5 funding will continue until April 2022. or until the commissioning process has been completed. We anticipate that tenders for refuge service will be out in the new year. We were hugely grateful to our refuge staff for their commitmer¢t to their work throughout the pandemic. We know that it was very challenginE, and often frightening, to be in an unknown situation and not have the safety of being able to work from home, and instead to keep coming into work every day and mixing not just with staff, but with multiple families. We also thank everyone who had the additional juggles of managing home schooling alongside making sure that the families in refuge were kept Safe and supported. We hugely appreciate everything that you did that enabled us to continue delivering 5ervites. 24 Hour Helpline Pathway Project's 24hr helpline continues to be our first point of contart for service users and agencies. providing a combination of advice, guidance. support and urgent help in a crisis. It is also our central point of contact for all of our referrals. At the start of COVID and as we entered into the first lockdown, we saw an immediate drop in calls to our helpline, to an all-time low of just 12 contarts in the entire week beginning the 13 April in 2020. As an organisation we recognised the many cause and effects that would be happersing in a lockdown where families were effertively trapped with a perpetrator, and we knew that this would be the calm before the storm. We began to look at other mediums that we could put in place to support those people who were in situations where they were not able to make a phone call and quickly implemented opening up our Facebook Messenger to allow support to be given that way alongside setting up an online chat system. These facilities allowed people to contact U5 and ask for advice and guidance while makinE it look like they were scrolling through things on their phone. Both of these methods proved to be effective and we were even able to talk one seNice user through her panic attack about going to court, encouraging her to open the door to the police and feel confident enough to go with them, all using Messenger. We were really pleased when she contarted us back on Messenger the following day to Say that he had been found guilty ènd would be going to prison for his attacks on her. As anticipated we began to see rises in calls from the beginning of May, and as a county the calls for all providers averaged around 3 25% increase on the year before for the entire year. In 2020121 we received 4454 contacts through all the helpline mediums available. this was up 32% on the year before and we took 1649 referrals for services, up 28% on the year before, with m05t people accessing more than one seNice. Our helpline continues to not just allocate the caller to the service they need, but also offers emotional support, advice and guidance. refers and signposts them on to other services, and helps source other accommodation when our refuge facilities are full. Our team of dedicated Helpline
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees, annual report For the year ended 31 March 2021 Coordinators, volunteers and support workers who help to cover out of hours, are absolutely crucial to the work we do, enabling us to not just support those who need it but to manage our referrals and ensLtre people can access the correct services. The Hope Centre In line with Government direction we closed the Hope Centre to service users and Staff in March of last year and began to do a phased return back to the office in july, before having to close the office again for further lockdowns in the autumn. During this time we looked at the considerable savings that we could make from no longer operating the centre, but it became clear to us that we would lose so much for the service users, the local community and the staff if we did this. For the staff it was about having a safe spate to do what can be very challenging work. as well as being able to access support and advice from peers and really feel like part of a team. For servite users we would have lost the space to provide group work, peer mentoring, drop ins, one to ones and counselling and for the community it would have me3nt losing somewhere that they can come and see the work we do, bring donations or have the opportunity to enter into volunteering. We really felt that these positives outweighed the potential cost savings we could make and that it was important that the centre could continue. At the same time as this it became clear that when we returned to the centre after the first lockdown that there was a lot of external maintenance on the structure of the building that needed to be tompleted and with the uncertainty of whether this would be tompleted by the landlord we took the opportunity to see if anything else had become available due to people leaving buildings during COVID. We were lucky enough to find premises that had just been vacated right in the centre of Lichfield, which offered us the space that we needed and matched the costs of our previous building, so we made the biE decision to move in October 2020. We took advantage of the lockdowns to do any work that needed to be done on the building including and to get it ready for staff to come back in at the end of the 2021 lockdowns. We are really extited about the location of the building and the difference it will make for staff and we are really looking forward to being able to start delivering our coun5elling and Eroup work from there. Outreach Pathway Project has continued to work on the service provision offered from our outreach team. Our Risk Reduction Worker is still the base of our team, taking referrals from anyone who feels they need support around domestic abuse. We have been lucky enough to be able to retain funding for our Mental Health and Domestic Abuse Worker Iwellbeing Worker),. this continues to be a heavily subscribed service and was in high demand during COVID. At the start of the pandemic our staff member produced a wellbeing and self-care pack that was sent out to all service users who expressed concerns around their mental health, and our online group that we launched combined approaches to wellbeing and self-care with domestic abuse education so that we could encourage everyone to look after their mental health in such a difficult time. We have also completed a full year of our Domestic Abuse and Housing Worker, as well as supporting service users in the community; this role has also been workinB with some of the women in the refuge around securing their move on housing and their resettlement in the community. This year, our Yourig Women and Girls Worker also moved back into focusing on domestic abuse, due to a change in staff and the development of the new sexual violence service. This seiCe has seen an increase in the number of young women who are seeking support with extremely complex needs, with many issues around childhood trauma 35 well as current domestic abuse issues. The focus of 2020121 was around maintaining services. meeting service user needs and ensuring staff wellbeing, as well a5 general fundraising to ensure we could keep on delivering. As we enter into
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees, annual report For the year ended 31 March 2021 2021122 we will be continuing to look at developing our specialist teams. with a specialist in economic abuse being one of our key targets, due to the substantial rise we have seen with women presenting with this need. Again. Pathway Project is hugely appreciative of everything that our staff did to ensure that we could continue to deliver our seNices during the pandemic. So many of our staff had to juggle home- schooling children around their work but we all managed to work together so that everyone could continue with their service users throughout the whole situation, and we are grateful for that commitment and passion. Sexual Wiolence Services Pathway Project has delivered the Independent Sexual Violence Advisor Service IISVAI for .ChfIeId, Tamworth and Burton in conjunction with Staffordshire Women's Aid for a number of years, on an informal contract with local district and county councils. This year, the detision was made to put the service out to tender on 3 more formal footing, with the Office of the Police Crime Commissioner managing the commissioning process. We were approached by Staffordshire Women's Aid to see if we would be interested in subcontracting with them to continue to deliver the services in our areas and with the opportunity to expand the team, and we said yes. We were very happy when it was announced that the contract was being awarded to Staffordshire Women's Aid with our sUPPOrt. We were also delighted that this gave us the opportunity to expand our sexual violence team, something which had been needed for a long time. This means that as well as having an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor we know have a full time Children's Independent Sexu31 Violence Advisof, working with children and young people aged 5-18, and 3 Family and Significant Other5 Practitioner, who works with people that have been indirectly affected by sexual violence happening to a loved one. This service launched in October 2020, staff have already completed their accredited training and the commissioners are already extremely pleased with how the service is going, especially considering that it was launched in the middle of lockdowns. Children's Services Children's Services have struggled the most through the pandemic, and this is a county wide issue that is not just particular to us. This has been for a tombination of reasons, the primary one being that a huge majority of referrals to all agencies come through school settings, and school closures meant that most of these children were not in contact with members of staff who would have previously seen them every day. There is also the issue that many children in vulnerable homes could not be accessed because there was no obligation by their parents to let agencies in with COVID restrictions. On a more Simple level, a lot of children also access appointments through neutral premises like schools to give them the freedom and confidence to talk and with Ioss of access to these many children took the decision to stop 5UPPOrt rather than do it remotely in the home. Referrals into our Children's Services were down 25% on the year before, and across the county for all providers and agencies working with vulnerable children. referrals were down by 36% on the year before. We continued to take referrals for our Children's Coordinator and work with anyone who felt comfortable and able to throughout the pandemic. We also opened up to allow any parents who were really struggling with home schooling, behavior management or wellbeing caused by thildren being isolated to speak to our Coordinator, so that they were given the opportunity to offload and hopefully better manage at home. We then focused our remaining efforts on ensuring that children who were affected by the pandemic but also in refuge had as much support as possible in place, and could acce55 as many attivities and outlets as possible. Meaning our Children's Worker and Children's Coordinator io
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees, annual report For the year ended 31 March 2021 worked closely together to deliver things such as in house youth clubs, trips to the park and wellbeing sessions. We were also very fortunate to receive a COVID grant from Children In Need which enabled us to fully develop our'secret Garden, which is an educational outdoor play resource that we started in the previous year, 50 this is now fully stocked with resources. Pathway Project is very grateful to the Children's Team for continuing to come in and support other people's children at a time when they couldn't even see children within their extended family face to face, and for dealing with the increased concern there was around COVID being passed on by children. As well as working directly with children and young people we also continue to deliver preventative work to other voluntary agencies. statutory agencies and schools. though their Carousel and drop dowrb days. This service continues to be well utilised by the local community and agencies who understand the specialist nature of the work. Communlty Engagement Worker Pathway Project was very lucky to have received some COVID funding during lockdown to implement our Community Engagement Worker post. Having someone constantly overseeing our social media has enabled us to drive the footfall to our pages, increasing followers and views, which has impacted on the number of people interested in making donations to us, working with us or supporting our fundraising. This post also oversees our website and makes sure the content is appropriate and up to date, a5 well as sourcing new things we can launch on it. They have also overseen the development of our new marketing materials arid liaise with people in the community who want to support us in new and innovative ways. When possible, this role will also be the one that links us into face to face community fundraising, and organizing events- as an organisation we are really excited to see where this service can take us as we move forward. Counselllng and County Coun5elling Counselling has always been a key part of Pathway Project's service delivery, with the belief that it helps to provide a true wrap around. holistic service. During the initial lockdown we worked with our Counselling Lead arbd the British Association for Counselling and Psychology to ensure that we could comply with all of the regulations around remote support and ensure that service users did not have that tounselling journey stopped at a point that could be crucial to them. We were able to provide option5 of using Zoom, WhatsApp and phone support in whatever format best supported the service user, and this enabled us to effectively maintain the Service. During the first lockdown we were fortunate to be awarded six months of COVID funding from the Ministry of Justice IMOJ), through the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner. in order to be able to implement a county wide counselling service that would support service users from all three providers. We worked with our counselling lead to be able to quickly put together everything that would be needed to run the service, and ensure we had a set of referring and working protocols for all providers to adhere to. Our Counselling Lead also agreed to step up and deliver the service on our behalf, which reduced the turnaround time and meènt that we had a fully qualified counsellor who was responsible for the service. After six months the MOJ awarded a further six months, allowing us to carry on the service. During this time we gave support to service users from across Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent, through one to one and group counselling. Durirbg 2020121 we supported a total of 157 service users in our counselling programmes, providing an average of 1256 hour5 of counselling. At the end of 2020121 we were asked to put in our costs for a further year of county counselling through some extended money from the Moj, this allowed us to also account for taking on Bnother li
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees, annual report For the year ended 31 March 2021 counsellor in order to mèet demand and we are pleased to say that this money was awarded for the vear 2021122. VolunteeTin8 and Peer Mentorlng COVID proved to be a big challenge for our volunteers and mentors. Our outreach team, which is the main base for our volunteers. moved to a work from home model as directed by Government. This meant that our admin volunteers and new volunteers who were just in the infancy of their training were not able to contiriue, as we were not able to provide either the face to face shadowing that they required. or allow them to take confidential admin work home with them. In order to try and manage refuge provision and reduce anything that could contribute to the spread of the virus. or the enforced isolation of staff, we also had to make the difficult decision to prevent any volunteers going into refuge. This enabled us to more effectively oversee the contact that staff and seryice users were having with other people. This also meant that we were unable to take on our student volunteers - normally in social work, health or legal practice, which is something that we do every year. Our Volunteer and Training Manager did work really hard with Newman University in Birmingham to arrange a six month placement for a German criminology student who was coming to gain experience of working with families and the legal landscape in Britain. Again, this had to be halted when the student took the difficult decision not to come due to travel restriction5, isolating and uncertainty about future lockdowns. All volunteers had a once a fortnight conversation with our manager, so that we could ensure that they were coping with everything that was going on. and to make sure that they knew that we were Still engaged with them. Despite these difficulties we were able to work with a small team of around four volunteers through COVID. One of these volunteers helped to support our helpline provision by covering hours when staff were unavailable. Our other three continued to support our peer mentoring provision, some additional funding through the county meant that we were able to purchase some additional phorbe5 and licenses to allow limited access to our data and case management system, this allowed our peer mentors to continue working remotely with low level seNice user5 and then be able to accurately record those o our case management system. In order to support other providers across the county we opened this service up county wide for six months, also supported by the same funding. and we managed to work with 24 service users during this period. Our Volunteer and Training Manager also supported our Counselling Lead in superyising and ret3ininE all of our volunteer coun5ellors, who did continue to provide SeiCe5 throughout the pandemic. through remote working and with additional oversight from us and their universities. We are looking forward to returning to the office and enabling our volunteers and mentors to Start working from a team environment again. We also have six volunteers ready to start their training with us when we are able to meet face to face. Groups The pandemic and remote working completely changed how we had to approach groups in 2020121. Over the previous 2 years we had built up a large selection of group work whith included Domestic Abuse IDAI education. life coaching, well-being, journey to self-discovery, empowerment, art therapv and a social group, all of which work best delivered in a fate to face environment. We had also planned our first evening group pilot which sadly had to be cancelled as it wa5 due to run during the first lockdown. As an organisation we feel that we really understand the rnerits of people engaging face to face for group work, but we also did not want to have such a long period of time where people could not access that service. Our Volunteer and Training Manager and Mental Health and Domestic Abuse 12
The Staffordshire Pathway Projert Trustees, annual report For the year ended 31 March 2021 Specialist worked together to quickly produce a hybrid group programme. that provided DA education alongside skills to manage service users mental health and develop their own self care programme. We managed to run this group, online. 6 times durinB the last year, with 61 attending for six week of sessions. Alongside that, we also ran introductory drop in sessions before each group ran so that SeiCe users could meet each other and the trainers before the group ran, increasing people's confidence. All of these groups were run over Zoom, meaning that service users could access them through their phones if they did not have laptops, and we ensured that everyone could use Wi-Fi before we began. Some of the feedback that we have had from the groups includes.. '? hod been feellng reolly lonely, like I wos the only person this w05 hoppening to. I wt75 reolly scored about tolking online but everyone mt7de mefeel reolly comfortoble. I hove loved doing the group and hove even mode ofriend. something I haven't been able to dofor u long time." "I have reclly enjoyed learning about self-care, which I hadn't heard of before. l am storting to recognise when l am getting stressed or upset, and hove now got some things I con do thot help to stop it getting worse" Due to re5trittions this has been the first period of time that we have not been able to run our normal service user Away Day* which is our largest service user consultation event. Despite this our Volunteer and Training Manager ha5 been able to run one of our new service user feedback groups, Survivor to Thriver, thi5 was in order to get feedback from servite users about Claire's Law. to then feedback into a larger national project. Our Deputy Police Crime Commissioner also saw our adverts about this on social media and attended the session. We had eleven people attend and all of them are very keen to continue with this in the future. We also supported the counW5 consultations for the new domestic abuse strategy and the needs assessment refresh, and facilitated ten seNice users who were happy to speak to researchers about Pathway and the work we do, as well as their general experiences of domestic abuse. Le8al ainks Unfortunately, we were unable to run any of our legal clinics during 2020121. This was a combination of being unable to provide a venue for them to run with the working from home agenda, alongside a high level of furlough for local solicitors and the significant redurtion in the number of cases being heard with the effect of COVID on courts. We will be aiming to return to delivering clinics in 2021122. Change of Name We made the decision to change our legal name this year. Although we always go by the name Pathway Project, our legal name was The Burntwood Pathway Project, which reflerted the position of our organisation when it was first set up. Since then our geography has extended to cover Lichfield, Tamworth, and even East Staffs with some servites. We also deliver projects that cover the entirety of Stafford5hire, and even Stoke, on some occasions. We therefore made the decision to change our legal name to The Staffordshire Pathway Project, as we felt this better reflects the areas we work in to our supporters and funders. This was legally agreed by the Charity Commission and Companies House in October 2020. 13
The Staffordshire Pathway Projert Trustees, annual report For the year ended 31 March 2021 Lozo and Marketing Our new logo launched in August a5ongside our website, and we took this opportunity to work with a local company on updating all of our leaflets, posters and banners to refresh our look. All of this has been completed and we will now be looking to do the same with all of our promotional material once we have worked through all of our current stock. Website Our website launched on the 3, August and is a Ereat addition to the organisation. We have the ability to continually make changes that we need to, and tan add on additional paEes and options, such a5 advertlsing events we are running ar)d selling tickets. We are also looking at incorporating a system that allows people to make one off donation5 and set up regular giving on there, in order to make is as simple as possible for people who want to SUPPOrt us. The strategy that drives the activities... As always, the main focus for Pathway Project IS the needs of our service users, and we have always strongly believed that the best people to tell us what they need to make that journey from victim to survivor are our service users themselves. This means that as well as using county and local authority strategies, national data and information from the police to shape our delivery, Pathway Project also spends a lot of time identifying specific r)eeds within our local community, throuEh the people we work with. We do this through a combination of analysing the data we are able to collect through our case and data management system, Oasis, key trends spotted by staff, service userfs direct requestlcomments and our own consultations that we run through our service user group and Away Days. This year we have been sadly unable to do this, however, Pathway Project's focus has very much been on ensuring that we meet the needs of our setvice users and our staff during this unprecedented time. and we hope to be able to move back to our normal way of working post COVID. As always Pathway Project is also very proud to be affiliated with National Women's Aid who continues to provide support in a number of different ways, including the national framework for domestic and sexual abuse services. Accreditation for the stanrlards was extended to five years, up to 2021, and with the standards put on hold by Women's Aid during COVID- we are currently just working through our evidence for our re-accreditation. Pathway Project continues to work closely with our partner domestic abuse agencies across Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent. We have supported New Era, Glow and Staffordshire Women's Aid with our County Counselling seryices and we are subcontracting with Staffordshire Women's Aid to help deliver Survive, the County sexual violence service. Pathway Projert also works closely with a number of agencies both statutory and voluntary, including Tamworth Borough and Lichfield District Housing and Community Safety Partnerships, Children's Services, Citizens Advice Bureau and Bromford Housing. We are continuing with our focus on specialist workers, supported by our Risk Reduction Worker. We have our Mental Health and Domestic Abuse Specialist and Domestic Abuse and Housing Specialist in place, thanks to funding from Lichfield District Council and Nationwide 8ank. As part of our refuge funding we were also able to take on a Financial Abuse Specialist in 2020121. This post has been put in place to help support the number of women coming into the refuge who are struggling with managing debts and budgeting, and also to allow us to put more capacity into supporting women with housing arrears. as it is becoming harder for them to be rehoused in a timely manner. We hope that thi5 will empower women to feel that they have the financi31 skills they need when they leave the refuge. 14
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees, annual report For the year ended 31 March 2021 Dealing with the effects of COVID and ensuring we can maintain and deliver services have been our main focus for 2020121 but from the data that we have been able to pull from Oasis, our main focuses on specialisms moving forward into 2021122 will be an. Etonomic Abuse Specialist, focusing on women suffering financial abuse in the community, but also looking to support women who have not been allowed to continue with education, training or enter into work and a Substance Misuse Specialist. Our online data and case management system, Oasis, remains a fantastic tool in allowing US to respond to funding applications and to meaningfully contribute to the local and national aEenda on domestic and sexual abuse trends and issues. Not only does the system streamline the data into easy searches it also puts it into easy to read report formats, reducing what has previously been time consuming work. We are also happy to be able to share anonymous data with Women's Aid to allow them to help build a national picture of what survivors want and need. In 2019120 pathway Project spent a lot of time getting back to our roots of community fundraising, and in January 2020 we had already set out a whole set of events we were personally organizing, and community events that we were going to attend, for the whole year. Sadly this plan had to be put on hold when the pandemic struck and we had to accept that we had lost a whole stream of fundraising. Despite this we re-grouped, our Community Engagement Worker focused on generating interest and fundraising from other people on line this included support from Amazon and their fundraising team, our Head of Operation5 focused on engaging with local companies and organisations. thi5 included donations of cleaning products for refuge from Morrison's and monetary donations from John Lewis, and Ouf CEO concentrated on utilizing Ouf COVID pipeline to ensure that bids were written and submitted on time. Overall, this led to a more successful 2020121 than we could have anticipated. We hope to move back into more community fundraising, and re-develop our Patrons Scheme during 2021122. Achievements and Performance Like many charities one of the biggest achievements for 2020121 has been surviving COVID. In a time when funding cuts and competitive tendering, combirbed with rising costs had already affected many organisation5, COVID provided an additional layer of worries and concerns, alongside a level of uncertainty we had never encountered before. This meant, that as with many others, simply being able to keep your services running, your doors open and remain fully staffed was the biggest achievement of the year. Despite everything thi5 year has bought, Pathway Project is still just as committed to delivering seNices to the people who need them most, as we always have been. This year Pathway Project has seen.. All of our services remain open, with all staff still workir*g, ensuring that the needs of all of our service users have continued to be met during such a challenging time. A quick and efficient move to remote and online working, including in our counselling service and group work. Advent for Change and their team choosing us to be one of their eharities for the third year running, this year will be on both the premium Advent Calendar and the Advent Candle. The development of our Community Engagement Worker role thanks to the Big Lottery Funding. Our refuges secure a further years Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government IMCHLGI funding. The establishment and funding of our County Counselling Service. Staffordshire Women's Aid sub colltract us to support delivery of the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent sexual violence Survive Service. 15
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees, annual report For the year ended 31 March 2021 Smallwood Trust award u5 funding, allowing us to make grants to our setvice users who are in financial hardship. The Big Lottery fund us through Awards for All to complete work needed in our new offices. An overwhelming response to our Christmas Present Drive with lots of people donating and purchasing items through our Amazon wish list. An amazing Easter Campaign with huge donations of presents and eggs for the children. A number of local organisations work with us to do combined events over social media e.g. gym5, people making masks and donating the profits to us. Our continuing contribution to the local community and county domestic abuse strategies, as well as all of the addition31 requirements for managing DA support throughout COVID. From April 2020 to April 2021 our helpline took 4454 calls and emails, resulting in 1649 referrals into service5. Wlth most service users wanting more than one service. In total we sUPPOrted 697 adults, young people and children. Our group programme5 provided 36 sessions, supporting 61 people, all online. One of the greatest assets that Pathway Project has is our wonderful team. The work that we do a5 an organisation is demanding in many ways, but our staff never falter in making sure that they do their best for the service users who need us, and this has never been more obvious than in the last year. Staff have done all they can to ensure that they have managed their service users around the challenges of home life, and still come in for work every day. Pathway Project would like to say a huge thank you to every one of our staff for the commitment and love that they have shown our organisation, no matter what the challenges. Beneficiaries of our services The tomplex needs of our beneficiaries have been recognised in our strategy focusing on specialist SUPPOrt, as very rarely do service users present with domestic/sexual abuse, and no other additional support needs. We feel that the more support that can be offered from one centr31 point, with one trusted worker in a plates that enables someone to feel safe, the better engagement we will receive and the greater opportunity for success for our service users. Pathway Project continues to take on feedback, both negative and positive, and use this to drive forward our services and make effective changes. Throughout COVID Pathway Project have been overjoyed at the support we have received from funders, our loc31 community, and individuals who have done everything from raisin6 money having their head shaved, to putting us forward at their local companies, and in some cases national companies. At such a difficult time for everyone, it was lovely to be able to feel the sUPPOrt and passion for what we do from such a variety of places. Financlal Review Pathway Project has continued to make fundraising its key priority throughout COVID, with the focus being on covering those costs which we would normally have funded with our community fundraising e.E. core cost5, and increased costs that were particular to COVID. We also took the opportunity to apply for funding for management posts that are normally unfunded and would have had to be paid out of reserves. when this was available. As always, the successful delivery of a professional organisation means that it is nece553ry to have management oversight and buildings to operate from, including their operating costs, and all of these contribute to the front line services at the heart of Pathway Project. We are aware that this is a 16
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees, annual report For the year ended 31 March 2021 constsnt struggle for all charities. when the focus remains only on direct delivery and not its associated costs, but Pathway Project tontinues to work hard to source any funding that may support this. Nationwide, after the last round of successful funding from the MHCLG our refuges remain safe until April 2022 when it is anticipated that the new format of funding for refuges will be put in place. At the moment it appears that funding will be dispersed to County Councils to administer to refuge5 while they complete the work needed to be ready and compliant for tendering of refuge services. The indication from Staffordshire County Council is that they expect to continue as is with current providers, until the tender process 15 ready, this will likely be for April 2022. We have continued to dedicate some time from our Head of Operations to the development of our community work and fundraising. and this role is now supported by the Community Engagement Worker. While how we deliver this work has had to change during COVID we have taken the time to invest more into the use of social media to generate fundraising, and also into building relationships with big local and national companies, encouraging them to think of us when it comes to their community giving. During this year our total income increased to £903,40912020.. £690,662). This was primarily down to the development of new services within the organisation, including the County Courbselling Service, Community Engagement Worker, the grant making funding we were awarded by the Smallwood Trust and the sub tontratt we were awarded by Staffordshire Women's Aid. We were also fortunate to be awarded some COVID support funding. Expenditure has been tightly managed but still increased to £780,28712020.. £728,573), this was due to additional services and additional costs generated by managing COVID. We did still manage to make some unexpected cost savings from areas such as working from home which reduced the utilities bills. moving buildings which meant a small period of time with no rent charges and remote working meaning a reduction in a115taff expenses. Thank you to the Patrons and Friends of Pathway Project for their on-going commitment. It Is a huge encouragement to us that 50 many people are passionate about the work that we do. Principal tundlng sourtes Our refuge 'bricks and mortar, costs are funded through the housing benefit which is paid to us on behalf of residents, we review this yearly with our District and Borough Councils and we are thankful the campaigning that has secured government support for retaining housing benefit payment5 for refuges, 85 this remains our only consistent source of funding. The money from MHCLG has been instrumental in funding the staffing of our refuges, which are critical to successful refuge provision. MHCLG also provided additional COVID money to cover the additional costs generated in refuge by COVID. Big Lottery Empowering Women and Gir15 Initiative completed its final year, with funding finishing in July 2021. This project has been extremely important for Pathway. not only allowing us to trial new services, but in also providing us with secure funding for our helpline. and allowing us to really grow our volunteering and group work, something we would never have been able to achieve without the Volunteer and Training Manager role. It h35 31so really shown us what can be achieved when you have a secure period of funding- five years- rather than ad hoc amounts that have to be constantly renewed, meaning there is always a fear that a service will come to an end. We are currently actively looking for funding to continue delivering these services. We were also fortunate to received COVID fundinE from the lottery which allowed us to develop our Community Engagement Worker. complete our marketing and cover additional COVID costs. 17
The Staffordshire Pathway Projert Trustees, annual report For the year ended 31 March 2021 The Ministry of Justice. through the Office of the Police arsd Crime Commissioner, has supported our County Counselling project. Due to us providing fully qualified and registered counsellors, the sUPPOrt costs for this are high, but the number of people seen and the current outcomes are excellent. The Smallwood Trust h35 SUPPOrted us to be able to offer our first grant making service to any women working us who are struggling with financial hardship. The fund provides a small 3mount to help cover the work that needs to be done by our Finance Manager to administer the payments, and the remainder of the money is paid out to service users to support them with things such as housing arrears. new furniture etc. We were also fortunate to receive some core cost funding from the Smallwood Trust during COVID. The Nationwide Community Foundation has continued to fund our Domestic Abuse and Housing Specialist for a further year. This comes to an end in December 2021 and we are eufrently looking for further funding. Children in Need has also been a key funder in supporting the work that we do with children and young people alongside Evason Charitable Trust who helped contribute towards our children's work in refuge. We are very grateful to our District and Borough Councils for their support around our Mental Health and Domestit Abuse Specialist. We also have a number of other grants and gifts from trust funds, foundations and through individuals in our Patron's scheme. Principal rlsks and uncertaintles The Board of Trustees is very aware of on-going risks and regularly reviews the work done to mitigate these. We have both a business plan and an income generation plan that we work towards and review. We have a Risk Management Policy and regularly review the principal risks identified, which are financial, operational and reputational. Financial- Income generation still remains a key focus and priority for Pathway Project. both around securing contributions to core costs, but also in preparation for the ending of the Big lottery Women and Girls Fund ifi July. We will be continuing our community work when it becomes safe to do so after COVID, and we are still working hard on securing significant funding streams and sustainable fLsnding options. Operational- Our biggest operational uncertairity was the long term stability of the Hope Centre, and this has now been mitigated by moving to our new premises which already has a programme of external work in place to ensure the building is maintained. We continue to make maximum use of the Hope Centre, and it is key in enabling us to run our holistic provision of services. We continue to work with people with complex needs, chaotic lives, and who are often at serious risk. Having done all that we can to minimise the risks we also have insurance against many possible risks and losses. Reputational- once again the main issue 15 that we work with vulnerable service users with complex needs and we need to prioritise safeguarding 311 of the people who we work with. Where we need to ensure our staff's safety, they work jointly in pairs or do joint visits with other agencies. We only visit service users having undertaken a thorough risk assessment. All of our working practices are aimed at SLSPPOrting both staff and service users. We attend regular professiona15 meetings in order to maintain awareness of risk to or from vulnerable service users, and we deal promptly with any issues which arise. We monitor out media presence 50 that we can take action wherever appropriate. 18
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees, annual report For the year ended 31 March 2021 Reserves Policy and Goin8 Concern The trustees have examined the charity's requirements in light of the main risks of the organisation and aim to build up our reserves to give us some financial stability if problems arise. We are susceptible to shortfalls in funding where particular activities are funded by varied and unpredictable income streams. Our policy and target level of free reserves is to hold a minimum of 12 months, operating expenditure. As a result, we estimate that we currently require approximately £700,000 to meet this target. Our actual free reserves at the year-end were £420,867 an increase on last year, although we will have a significant challenge ahead to continue to build our resetves until we meet this target level, especially with contracts coming to an end. Restricted funds as at 31 March 2021 are £110.99912020.. £55,506) and these funds will all be spent on the charitable activity to which they apply in the next financial year. Despite the target to build unrestricted reserves, the free reserves of the organization are primarily supported by cash resources. We have demonstrated in the past our ability to be agile in how we have reacted to significant changes in our overall business model, including10sing key sources of funding. and have demonstrated a tight control over our cost base. These practices will continue, along with the regular monitoring of the income pipeline to ensLbre that Pathway Project can continue to deliver its kev Services in an external environment presenting continued uncertainty. As a result of regularlv monitoring both reserves levels and cash flow, the trustees are satisfied to approve these financial statements on a going concern basis. Plans for the future Maintaining services during COVIO became the priority and therefore meant we did not move forward with our proposal to implement further specialist roles, we are therefore hoping to continue to fund more specialist posts as and when the opportunity arises, in order to enhance our offer. We hope to continue to grow our community fundraising when the pandemic has passed, and also to re-develop our Patrons scheme and the work of the Income Generation Group. We hope to extend our community engagement work, alongside our social media and marketing. We hope to continue to develop our County Counsellin8 programme. To ensure that we continue to deliver services throughout the pandemic and its aftermath. As always Pathway Projert will continue to proactively develop models of working which best meet the needs of survivors as well 35 seeking opportunities for funding and collaborative working. We will also continue to work on raisinE awareness in both the local and wider community, to ensure that domestic and sexual violence and the work needed to be done to end it is truly understood. Fundraising As a tharity we are working hard to broaden the base of our funding streams SO that there is less reliance on any single source. We have continued to plan our applications to grant funders, both 19
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees, annual report For the year ended 31 March 2021 national and local. We have also taken a more pro-active approach to raising funds from the community, and particularly unrestricted funds. We believe that our fundraising should be ethical. and in line with the Fundraising Regulator Code of Practice. Pathway Projett operates a policy around the protection of vulnerable adults, and this includes ensuring vulnerable people are not negatively impacted by our fundraising. We have an Income Generation Group who plan and oversee large events. Two trustees of the charity are part of this group and ensure that best practice is always followed. We also have a member of staff who has one day each week allocated to development work and she also oversees a small volunteer group who run the smaller event5. We have a robust insurance policy which proterts us for running event5 and we follow a risk assessment process when planning our events. The Income Generation Group feeds back to the Trustees at our monthly meetings. We are happy for the public, including our supporters, to tomplain if they are unhappy with our fundraising. We received no complaints during 2020121. Complaints and comments are welcome and we aim to use feedback, whether positive or negative, to help us to improve our service. Structure, govemance and management The organisation is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 7 August 1991 {in England and Wales) and registered as a charity on 14 November 1991. The company was established under a memorandum of association which established the objects and powers of the charitable company and is governed under its articles of association. The articles were recently updated and accepted for filing at Companies House in October 2021. All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. No expenses are reclaimed from the charity as disclosed in note 8 to the accounts. Code of Governance As part of our work with Pilotlight and as part of our own internal review procedures, the Trustees have considered best practice set out within the Charity Governance Code and at the date of this report are carrying out a review process to ensure that the governance of the organi5ation meets the principles and recommended practice of the Code. Appointment of trustees A process is in place following best practice guidelines, to recruit and appoint new trustees in a similar process to that used to appoint staff members. The charity plans strategically to have a board of trustees who are able to bring a range of expertise and skills to the board meetings. Trustee induction and training Trustees are inducted and trained through a formal training system, which includes havinE a Mentor who is a more experienced board member. Part of the annual Trustee Away Day is sometimes a particular briefing sessior5 to inform and build knowledge. All trustees are welcome to attend training / briefing se55ions that are being held for staff. 20
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees, annual report For the year ended 31 March 2021 Poliry for employment of disabled persons Pathway Project believes in providing equality of opportunity for disabled persons. All jobs are advertised with a person spetification outlining the particular aptitudes and abilitie5 required in the role. The job is Eiven to the person who best fulfils the requirements of the role. If necessary adjustments are required then we will seek to accommodate the adaptations. Should a member of staff become disabled durinE their employment we will work with them to facilitate a return to work when possible, and will seek to accommodate their needs for adaptations or assistance. Opportunities for training and tareer development will be equally open to disabled persons and they will not be disadvantaged in possible promotion opportunities. Employee Inforniation and remuneration poliry for key management personnel The CEO and Head of Operations have delegated authority for managing the day to day operation of the organisation. Employees are the foundation of our organisation and as such we seek to keep them informed and consulted about any changes that are being made in the organisation. This is done through regular team meetings and email memos. When changes are being considered, which will impart on the working conditiorbs of staff, they are fully consulted and offered opportunities to have an input into decisions being made. The remuneration of the key management personnel is set by the Board. The Chair conducts the annual appraisal of the Chief Executive Officer and the board agrees her salary. Comparable salaries for executive roles in other similar sized organisations in the health and social care sector are used as a benchmark for setting the salary. Statement of fesponsibilftie5 of the trustees The trustees (who are also directors of Pathway Project for the purposes of company lawl are responsible for preparing the tru5tees' annual report including the strategic report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards Iunited Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practicel. 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 charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resource5, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to.. Select Suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistentlv Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent 21
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Trustees, annual report For the year ended 31 March 2021 State whether applicable UK Atcounting Standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements 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 charitable company 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 charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. In so far a5 the trustees are aware: There is no relevant audit information of which the charitable compan5 auditors are unaware The trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information. The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable companls website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial ststements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions. Members of the charity guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charity in the event of winding up. Thè total number of such guarantees at 31 March 2021 was IS12020- 161. The trustees are members of the charity but this entitles them only to voting rights. The trustee5 have no beneficial interest in the charity. The trustees, annual report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies, regime. The trustee's annual report has been approved by the trustees on 26th November 2021 and signed on their behalf. 22
Independent Auditors. Report To the members of The Staffordshire Pathway Project Opinion We have audited the financial statements of The Staffordshire Pathway Project (formerly The Burntwood Pathway Project) (the 'charitable company'l for the year ended 31 March 2021 which comprise the statement of financial activities, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, 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 Iunited Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). In our opinion, the financial statement5.' Give a tfue and fair view of the state of the charitable companrfs affairs as at 31 March 2021 and of its incoming resource5 and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended Have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice Have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 Basis for opinion We conducted our audit in attordance with International Standards on Auditing IUKI IISAS IUKII and applicable13w. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditorfs responsibilities for the audit of the finantial statements 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 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 In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees, use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate. Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on The Staffordshire Pathway Project's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue. Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant settions of this report. Other inforniation The other information comprises the information included in the trustees, annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information. 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 23
Independent Auditors, Report To the members of The Staffordshire Pathway Project statement5 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. Oplnions on other matters prescrlbed by the Companies Art 2006 In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit.. The information given in the trustees, annual report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements The trustees, annual report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements Matters on which we are required to report by exception 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, annval 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 Certain disclosure5 of trustees, remuneratiori specified by law are not made; 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 companie5. exemptions in preparing the trustees, annual report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report. Responsibilities of trustees As explained more fully in the statement of trustees, responsibilities set out in the trustees, annual report, the trustee5 Iwho are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of companv lawl are responsible for the preparation of the finantial 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. Auditors, responsibilities for the audit of the financial statement5 Our objertives are to obtain reasonable 35surance 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 IUKI 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 24
Independent Auditors, Report To the members of The Staffordshire Pathway Project basis of these financial statements. Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with law5 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 are set out below. Capabillty of the aud?t In deterting irregularltles In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the followin8'. We enquired of management, which included obtaining and reviewing supporting documentation, concerning the charity's policie5 and procedures relating to- Identifying, evaluating, and tomplying with laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance,. o Detecting and responding to the risk5 of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspected, or alleged fraud,. The internal tontrols established to mitigate risk5 related to fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations. We inspected the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance. We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework that the charity operates in, focusing on those law5 and regulations that had a material effect on the financial statements or that had a fundamental effect on the operations of the charity from our professional and sector experience. We communicated applicable13Ws and regulations throughout the audit team and remained alert to any indications of non-compliance throughout the audit. We reviewed any report5 made to regulators. We reviewed the financial statement disc105ures and tested these to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations. We performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that may indicate risks of material misstatement due to fraud. In addressing the risk of fraud through management override of controls, we tested the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments, assessed whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias and tested significant transartions that are unusual or those outside the normal course of business. Because of the inherent limitations of an audit. there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instantes of non-compliance. The risk is a150 greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion. omission or misrepresentation. A further descriptiors of our responsibilities is avallable on the Financial Reporting Countil's website at: www.frc.or auditorsres onsibilities This description forms part of our auditorfs report. 25
Independent Auditors. Report To the members of The Staffordshire Pathway Project Use of our report This report is made solely to the charitable company's members as a body. in accordante 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 auditor's report and for no other urpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyo e other than the charitable company and the charitable company's members as a body, for our audit ork, for this report. or for the opinions we have formed. Stephen P Butler (Senior Statutory Audltor} For and on behalf of- Haines Watts, Chartered Accountants Statutory Auditors Sterling House 97 Lichfield Street Tamworth B79 7QF Date.. 26 November 2021 26
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Statement of financial activities For the year ended 31 March 2021 Note Unrestricted Restrided funds funds 2021 2021 Unrestricted funds 2020 Réstrlcted funds 2020 Totsl 2021 Total 2020 Income from Donations 59,995 3,666 63,661 46,194 32.312 78.5( Charitable activities Domestic violence PventIon Refuge Children's projects 18,121 374.593 2,508 264,034 99,545 53.256 282,155 474,138 55,764 233.679 91X) 48,933 233,679 289,224 48,933 288,324 Other trading activities Investments 26,818 123 750 27,568 123 25,171 14.541 39.712 Total income 482,158 421.251 903.409 360,297 330,365 690,662 Expenditure on Raising funds 2.303 2,303 4.162 4,162 Charitable activities Domestic violence prevention Refuge Children's projects Refuge based actiwties 255.472 255.472 402.780 64,904 54,828 285,649 285,649 339,399 82,014 17,349 402,780 339,399 64,904 54,828 82.014 17.349 Total Penditure 405,083 375,204 780.287 343,561 385,012 728,573 Net income I lexpenditurel before transfers 77,075 46,(147 123,122 16.736 154.6471 137.9111 Transfers between funds 15 19.ta461 9,446 191,1671 91,167 Net movemènt In funds 67,629 55.493 123.122 174,4311 36,520 137,9111 Reconciliation of funds Fund balances brought forward 434 345 453 331 Fund balances carried forward 427 All of the above results are derived from continuing actwities. All gains and10s5e5 recognised in the year are included above. 27
The Staffordshire Pathway Project (registered company number 02635912) Balance sheet As at 31 March 2021 Note5 2021 2020 Flxed assets Tangible assets io 10,468 13.121 Current assets Debtors Cash at bank and in hand li 23,092 563.586 31,926 423,368 586.678 455.294 Creditors: amounts falllng due wlthin oneyear 12 158,6041 152,9951 Nèt current assets 528.074 402,299 Total assets less turrent Itabllltles 538,542 415,420 Total net assets 538.542 415,420 Funits Restricted Unrestrieted Is 15 110,999 427,543 55,5(6 359,914 Total funds 538,542 415.420 Approved by the Board on 26 November 2021 and signed on its behalf by.. 28
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Statement of cash flows For the year ended 31 March 2021 2021 2020 Cash flows from operating acttvitie5 Net income / lexpenditurel for the reporting period Depreciation charges Interest from investments Decrease in debtors Increase irh creditors 123.122 2,653 11231 8.834 5,609 137,9111 2,851 16081 19,093 29,993 Net cash Prowd by operating artivitiès 140,095 13,418 Cash flows from investing artivltles Interest froTll investments Payments to acquire fixed assets 123 608 I1.7> Net cash provided by I (used 5nl investing att1v1t$ 123 11,2991 Change in osh and cash equfvalents in the year 140,218 12.119 Cash and cash equivalents at the start of the year 423,368 411.249 Cash and cash equlvalents at thé end of the year 563.586 423,368 The notes on pages 29 to 41 fomi part of these financial statements. 29
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021 Accountlng policie5 1.1 ststutory infomiation The Staffordshire Pathway Project is a charitable company limited by guarantee and is incorporated in the United Kingdom IEngland and Wales). The registered office address and operational address is The Hope Centre, 3 Quonians Lane. Lichfield, Staffordshire, W513 7LB. 1.2 Basls of accounting The financial statements have been prepared in accordance and fully complies with 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 IFRS 1021 Icharities SORP FRS 1021, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland IFRS 1021 and the Companies Act 2006. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note. 1.3 Public beneflt entity The charitable company meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. 1.4 Going concern The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern. The trustees do not consider that there are any SoUrS of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period. 1.5 Income Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and that the amount can be measured reliablv. Income from government and other grants, whether'capital. grants or 'revenue' grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the fund5, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it Is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred. Income received in advance of the provision of a specified serviee is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met. 1.6 Donations of glfts, services and facilities Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item or received the service, any conditions associated with the donation have been met. the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP IFRS 1021. volunteer time is not recognised so refer to the trustees, annual report for more information about their contribution. On receipt, donated gifts, professional 5eNices and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market,. a torre5pondinE 30
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021 amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt. 1.7 Interest recelvable Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity,. this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank. 1.8 Fund Accounting General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the trustees, in furtherance of the general objectives of the charitsble company, and which have not been designated for other purposes. Designated funds are unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the trustees for a specific, but not legally binding, purpose. Restricted funds are fund5 which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by the donors within the objects of the charity. Expenditure that meets these criteria is charged to the fund. 1.9 Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity heading5.' Costs of raising funds relate to the costs incurred by the charitable company in inducinE third parties to make voluntary contributions to it, as well as the cost of any activities with a fundraising purpose Expenditure on charitable artivities includes the costs of delivering seN15 undertaken to further the purposes of the charity and their assouated support costs. Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred. Governance costs are those cost5 associated with meeting the constitutional and statutory requirements of the charitable company and include audit fees and costs linked to the strategic management of the charitable companv. Direct charitable expenditure 15 allocated to the particular activity where the cost relates directly to that activity. However support and governance costs, so the cost of the overall direction and administration of each activity, comprising the salary and overhead costs of the central function. is apportioned on the basis of staff time attributable to each activity. 1.11 Operating Leases Rental charges are charged on a straight line basis over the term of the lease. 1.12 Taxation The charity is exempt from torporation tax on its charitable activities. 31
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021 1.13 Tangible fixed assets and depreclatlon Assets which cost in excess of £500 are initially capitalised at cost. Depreciation is provided at annual rates calculated to write off the cost less estimated residual value of each asset over its expected useful life. as follows: Children's play equipment Fixtures and fittings 2¢YA, reducing balance b351S 20%, reducing balance basis 25%. reducing balance basis Office equipment 1.14 Debtors Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due and prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid. 1.15 Creditors and provisions Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due. 1.16 Flnancial instruments The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value with the exception of bank loans which are subsequently measured at amort15ed cost using the effective interest method. 1.17 Pension costs The charity has a defined contribution pension scheme to offer all employees in order to tomply with the feqLtirements of auto-enrolment. The Charity is contributing 3 minimum employer contribution into the scheme as set by the Pension Regulator. 32
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021 Donatlons Unrestricted Restricted funds funds 2021 2021 UnrestrKted Restricted funds funds 2020 2020 Total 2021 Total 2020 Anonymous Friel Homes Ltd Pathway Patrons All Saint5 PCC, Alrewas HSI Lichfield Conduit Lands Trust Shenstone Quilters Waitrose Ltd- John Lewis Gift aid income tax recovered Donations of £1,000 and under 13,000 13,000 19,000 10,000 3,087 19,000 10,000 7,649 3,625 2,849 2,666 5,515 4,562 3,625 2,000 2,000 2,500 2.000 2,500 1,050 1,050 3,000 4,387 32.259 3,000 4,387 33,259 6.732 28,225 6.732 28,450 1,000 225 59,995 3,666 63,661 46,194 32,312 78,506 Income from tharitable actlvities Unrèstrirted Restrlcted fund5 funds 2021 2021 Unrestricted fund5 2020 Restricted funds 2020 Total 2021 Total 2020 Domestic vlolence prevention Big Lottery Funding Tamworth BC Nationwide Community Smallwood Trust Staffordshire Women's Aid Lichfield DC National Lottery Awards Western Power Community Foundation Michael Lowe Charles Hayward Foundation iio,000 iio,000 iio,000 37,303 24,576 iio,000 37,303 24.576 6,604 47,084 44,993 15,000 34,437 4.927 989 6.604 52,131 44.993 15.000 44,661 4,927 3.839 5,047 16,800 10,000 10.000 16,800 10,000 10.000 10,224 2,850 5,000 20,CK)O 5,000 20,000 Sub-totsl for domestic violence prevention 18,121 264,034 282.155 233,679 233,679 33
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021 Income from charltable activities (continued) UnrestrKted Restrkted f4End5 funds 2021 2021 Unrestricted Restricted funds funds 2020 2020 Total 2021 Total 2020 Refuge Accommodation tharges Tamworth Borough Council- MHCLG Edgar E Lawley Foundation Clothworkers Foundation Southern Staffs Energy Staffordshire County Council Staffordshire PCC Grants £1,000 and under 264,896 99,062 264,896 51,214 150.276 243,381 39,506 1,500 243,381 39,506 1,500 2,765 435 3,200 1,363 1,363 3,500 3,500 47,896 4,370 47,896 4.370 2,574 900 3,474 Sub-total for Refuge 374,593 99,545 474.138 288,324 900 289,224 Unrestricted Re5trirted fvnd5 funds 2021 2021 unreStred funds 2020 RestrKted funds 2020 Total 2021 Totsl 2020 Children's pfojects Children in Need Lichfield DC- Action Kids Eveson Charitable Trust Souter Charitable Trust Grants £1,000 and under 2,508 31,256 10,000 12,000 33.764 10,000 12,000 33,933 10,000 33.933 10,000 4,000 1.000 1,000 Sub-total for children's projects 2,508 53.256 55,764 48,933 48,933 Total income from charitable activities 395,222 416,835 812,057 288,324 283,512 571,836 Other trading activities Unrè5tritted Restrlcted funds funds 2021 2021 Unrestrkted Restrkted funds funds 2020 2020 Total 2021 Total 2020 Fundraising events Training and seNices income Memberships Sundry 26.720 750 27,470 17,091 5,360 98 2,622 17,091 19,901 98 2,622 14,541 98 98 26,818 750 27,568 25,171 14,541 39,712 34
The 5taffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021 Investment income Unrestricted Restritted lunds fvnds 2021 2021 unreStred Restritted funds funds 2020 2020 Totsl 2021 Totsl 2020 Bank interest reteivable 123 123 608 608 35
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The Staffordshire Pathway Projert Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021 Net income / {expenditurel forthe year Total 2021 Total 2020 Net income / lexpenditurel is stated after charging the following items.. Auditors, remuneration Operating lease rentals Depreciation 2,400 1,824 2,653 2,400 4,402 2,851 Analysis of staff costs. trustee remuneration and expenses and the t05t of key management personnel Total 2021 Total 2020 Wages and salaries Social security costs Employer contributions to defined contribution pension schemes 432.311 28,452 15,996 449,887 29.682 16,890 476.759 496.459 The average number of employees during the year based on 3 headcount basis was 2912020.. 301. No employee earned in excess of £60,000 per annum12020.' none). The total employee benefits lincluding employerfs pension contributions and employerfs national insurancel of the key management personnel were £44,17012020.. £44.8751. No trustee received any remuneration or benefits during the year ended 31 March 2021, nor in the year ended 31 March 2020. No trustees received expenses during the year ended 31 March 202112020'.nonel. Related party transactions There are no related party transactions to disclose for 202112020.. none). There are no donations from related parties which are outside the normal course of busines5 and no restricted donations from related p3rties. 38
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021 io Tangible fixed assets Children's play equipment Fixtures and Office flttings equipment Total Cost At l April 2020 Additions 12,179 63,520 20,813 96,512 At 31 March 2021 12,179 63.520 20,813 96,512 Depreclation At l April 2020 Charge for the year 11,342 167 51,759 2,354 20,290 132 83,391 2,653 At 31 March 2021 11,509 54,113 20,422 86,044 Net book value At 31 March 2021 670 9,407 391 10,468 At 31 March 2020 837 11,761 523 13,121 li Debtors 2021 2020 Accounts receivable Rent receivable Prepayments and accrued income 6,783 7,505 8,804 15,666 1,246 15,014 23,092 31.926 12 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 2021 2020 Operating creditors Social security and other taxes Accruals and deferred income 3,916 7,328 47,360 6,111 8,623 38,261 58,604 52,995 39
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021 13 Operating lease commltments The charity's total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases is as follows for each of the following periods.. Land and bulldlngs Equipment 2021 2020 2021 2020 Within l year Between 2 and 5 years 20,000 44,000 758 2,469 1,824 3,227 64,000 3,227 5,051 14a Anaty5is of net assets between funds 2021 Unrestrirted Restricted Total Fixed assets Debtors Cash Creditors 6,676 15,326 426.481 120,9401 3.792 7,766 137,105 137,6641 10.468 23,092 563,586 158,6041 Net assets as at 31 March 2021 427.543 110,999 538,542 14b Analysis of net assets between funds 2020 Unrestricted Restrlcted Total Fixed assets Debtors Cash Creditors 8,378 16,388 355,492 120,3441 4,744 15,537 67.876 132,6511 13,121 31,926 423.368 152,9951 Net assets as at 31 March 2020 359,914 55,506 415,420 40
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021 15a Movement In funds 2021 Atl April 2020 Income Expenditure At31 MaKh 2021 Transfers Unrestrirted funds General funds 359.914 482,158 1405,083 19,4461 427.543 Restricted funds Children's Projects.. Children in Need 31,257 Children's Projects.. Other 44,705 Central costs 46.682 Domestic violence prevention.. Big Lottery Fundin8 5,000 110,000 Domestic violence prevention.. Other 41.691 106,454 Refuge 5,116 57,153 Smallwood Trust 25,000 3,699 134,2911 130,6131 138,9341 1119.4461 1108,5281 129,1051 114.2871 665 14,092 7,748 5,000 39,617 33,164 10,713 9,446 55,506 421,251 1375,2041 9,446 110,999 Total funds 415,420 903,409 1780,2871 538,542 15b Movement in funds 2020 Atl April 2019 Income Expendlture Transfers At31 March 2020 Unrestritted funds General fijnds 434,345 360,297 1343,5611 191,1671 359,914 Restrirted funds Children's Projects.. Children in Need 33,933 Children's Projects.. Other 30,942 Central c05t5 33,540 Domestic wolence prevention.. Big Lottery Funding 5,000 110.000 Domestic violence prevention.. Other 3.056 119,731 Refuge 10,930 2,218 130,2341 145,6791 133,5401 1127.8101 1139,7171 18,0321 3.699 14,736 17,810 58,620 5,000 41.691 5,116 18,986 330,365 1385.0121 91,167 55,506 Totsl funds 453,331 690,662 1728,5731 415,420 41
The Staffordshire Pathway Project Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2021 15 Movement In tunds {continuedl Transfers between funds Transfers between unrestricted and restricted f unds were to cover any deficit of funds spent on restricted projects compared with grant income received, together with the transfer of agreed management costs. Purposes of restricted funds: Children's projects.. funding, including grant5 from Children in Need, received for the provision of support to children in the refuges who are suffering as a result of living in a home with domestic violence. The funding received is provided to work with children both in the refuge and as an outreach to service users through a children's worker, a parenting support carer and a sessional crèche worker, together with additional costs such a5 Outings and equipment. Central costs.. funding received towards the central costs of the refuge centres including the Operations Director. Domestlc violence prevention and advice fund.. funding received for the provision of support to women who have suffered as a result of domestit violence. The funding is provided to work with women both in the refuges and as an outreach to servite users through the provision of an early intervention worker, an independent domestic violence adviser and 3 24 hour helpline operated by the project. Refuge.. funding received for the provision of support to service users whi15t resident with the project. Such funding is provided to work with women in the refuge through a specialist support worker, a counselling service and activitie5 to promote a hèalthier life style. The Smallwood Trust- a restricted fund that allows us, as a Community Grant Partner. to issue individual monetary Brants to our service users to increase the financial fesilience of low-income individuals. Applications have to be made to the fund. alongside evidence of the individu31'5 current financial situation, these are then 3Ssessed by support workers, and the Finance Manager, before grants can be issued directly to the applicant. 42