2024-03-31-accounts - Heart Of England Mencap

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Company Number: 02814177 Charity Number: 1038862

Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023-24

Contents

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Reference and administrative information ........................................................................................................ 1 Chair’s report .................................................................................................................................................... 3 Chief Executive’s review .................................................................................................................................... 4 Trustees’ annual report ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Independent auditor’s report ......................................................................................................................... 24 Statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account) ...................................... 28 Balance sheet ............................................................................................................................................... 29 Statement of cash flows ................................................................................................................................. 30 Notes to the financial statements .................................................................................................................. 31

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023-24

Reference and administrative information

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

Company number	02814177 Country of incorporationUnited Kingdom	02814177 Country of incorporationUnited Kingdom
Charity number	1038862 Country of registrationEngland & Wales
Registered office and operational address	Registered office and operational address	5 Church Green
		Atherstone on Stour
		Stratford upon Avon
		Warwickshire
		CV37 8NE
Trustees	Trustees, who are also directors under company law, who served during the year
	and up to the date of this report were as follows:
	Robert Pearce	Chair - Reallected as Chair - 5.12.2023
	Margaret Harrison Richard Lane	Vice Chair/Hon Treasurer Vice Chair
	Kathryn Barber
	Sally Fyffe
	Sue Johnson-Gregory
	Robert Glinton
	Frank Sprules
	Kate Stevens
	Jane Reed	Retired asTrustee - 29.2.2024
	Natasha Mills	Appointed as Formal Trustee - 5.12.2023
	Opusdei Aghanenu	Appointed as Formal Trustee - 5.12.2023
	Keith Yates	Appointed as Formal Trustee -27.2.2024
Key management	Claire Mould Helena Wallace	Chief Executive (1.9.2023 -31.10.2023 - Interim. Permanent 1.11.2023 - Present) Chief Executive (until 31.8.2023)
personnel	Rebecca Davies	Commercial Director(Maternity leave 29.1.2024. Resigned from 31.7.2024.)
Bankers	Santander	Lloyds Bank
	21 Wood Street, Stratford-upon-Avon 14 Church Street, Rugby
	Warks CV37 6JU	CV21 3PL
Solicitors	Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP
	134 Edmund Street
	Birmingham B3 2ES
Fund Managers	CCLA Investment Management
	85 Queen Victoria Street
	London, EC4V 4ET

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24

Reference and administrative information

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

Investment First Actuarial LLP advisors Mayesbrook House Redvers Close Leeds, LS16 6QY Sayer Vincent LLP Auditor Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditor 110 Golden Lane LONDON, EC1Y 0TG

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24

Chair’s report

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

CHAIR’S REPORT

In reflecting on the past year, I can report that it has been a time of significant change and development for the organisation. The main change has been in the senior leadership of the charity; Helena Wallis our Chief Executive Officer (CEO) retired in September 2023 having tirelessly served for the organisation for ten years. We are very grateful to her and wish her a long and enjoyable retirement. Trustees, on behalf of the organisation, led an intensive CEO recruitment campaign which took place in July and August 2023. As approved by the Board, Claire Mould joined us on an interim basis as CEO in August 2023, in order to enable a hand over period between Helena and Claire and to ensure continuity in the CEO role. The outcome of the recruitment campaign was that the Board asked Claire to take on the responsibility of CEO on a permanent basis in November 2023. We welcome Claire on this permanent basis and wish her well working in this challenging environment.

The primary focus of our organisation is supporting customers to live the life that they wish to live and to enjoy life in the best possible way. In order to do that the organisation has also to be financially sustainable, our financial commitment is to maintain a financially heathy organisation so that going forward we can offer a continuity of care to our customers.

Our two Board Sub Committees, Assurance and Quality, and Finance focus on those two primary aims. Each Sub Committee is chaired by a Vice Chair of the organisation and has by mutual agreement assigned Trustees as core members. Any Trustee can attend any Sub Committee and committee papers are shared with all Trustees before and after each meeting. The two Sub Committees are supported by the appropriate senior leader or leaders.

Our primary focus in the latter half of this year has been in getting these two primary building blocks of the organisation functioning efficiently so that high quality services can be delivered in a sustainable way.

I am very privileged to lead a Board made up of highly competent individuals whose main motivation is to support and develop an exemplary organisation that fully benefits our Customers. My thanks go to the Trustees who volunteer their time for the good of others.

Our leadership team work really hard on a day-to-day basis bringing out the best that they can in our staff in order to benefit Customers. My thanks go to them and the wider staff team.

Whilst maintaining our focus on the two key priorities we will now outline our short and longer term strategic development plans together with the associated implementation plans.

Robert Pearce Chair

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24

Chief Executive’s review

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

Chief Executive’s Review

Since joining the organisation as permanent CEO of Heart of England Mencap (HoEM) in November 2023, it has been a period of listening, learning, monitoring, analysis, reflection and planning for development. HoEM’s underlying philosophy centres on delivering our objectives and ensuring our overall mission is achieved and, most importantly, the people we support are at the heart of everything we do.

It is gratifying to report that all HoEM regulated services continue to be rated by CQC as GOOD. Our non-regulated community day care services have contained to receive positive feedback from our local authority contract monitoring teams and are delivered to a good standard. These services currently all sit within a secure funded framework, predominantly funded by our main funder, Warwickshire County Council (WCC). However, there is no room for complacency. The WCC 2024/25 funding uplifts are nearly 50% lower than the 2023/24, and the challenge of external competitors continues. It is therefore essential that the next twelve months are focused on ensuring that HoEM are providing the highest quality, customer centred delivery that is financially viable.

Extending from this perspective and drawing on the analysis of monitoring and evaluation completed in the last six months, HoEM have just launched a focused business development plan. This will concentrate on the following three areas, that address the identified challenges and areas of underperformance:

Property: All our properties will demonstrate that they are positively working for us, focusing on two key factors;
Properties and maintenance spend.
Voids.
Staffing: Clarity of roles and responsibilities, supervisions, and performance monitoring. This will prevent;
Confusion about who is accountable.
Staff reluctance to take responsibility and use initiative.
Poor teamwork and communication.
Underperformance.
No benchmark of what the acceptable HoEM level of good practice is.
Compliance and governance: Consistent use of policies and procedures across the organisation. This will result in;
Lack of organisation wide compliance.
Insufficient monitoring and tracking of trends.
An increased risk of undetected or inadequately recorded errors and incidents.

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24

Chief Executive’s review

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

The new business plan includes the reviewed and refined strategic themes. This will ensure that HoEM demonstrates disciplined, intelligent, strategic thinking and is in the appropriate place to facilitate the organisation to grow in a compliant and effective manner.

Refined Strategic Themes:

People and Culture.
Systems and Processes.
Monitoring and Evaluation.
Properties – Procuring, Decanting and Registration.
Revenue and Costs.

It has been a very interesting first few months as the new CEO of Heart of England Mencap (HoEM). There are some exciting opportunities for HoEM as we develop in a clear, considered and compliant way over the next few months. Growing, a strong staff team, with the necessary partnerships and resources needed to facilitate coherent, effective, and sustainable high quality, customer focused delivery.

I look forward to working together with the HoEM team (employees, customers, families and Trustees) over the next twelve months as we develop and grow and deliver the highest quality, genuinely inclusive and person focused care and support.

Claire Mould Chief Executive

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24

Trustees’ annual report

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

The Trustees present their report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024.

Reference and administrative information set out on page one and two forms part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the memorandum and articles of association, the requirements of a directors’ report as required under company law, and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102.

Objectives and Activities Purposes and aims

The purpose of the charity is to empower people with a learning disability to optimise their potential and live fulfilling and independent lives. This is achieved through providing a wide range of support, enabling individuals to live independently whether that is through residential, supported living, respite, or community day care services.

It is essential that this support is tailored to meet their needs, enabling individuals to access meaningful support. All delivery must be person centred to ensure that HoEM genuinely facilitate the appropriate ways to support people to live the life they choose focusing on what an individual can do rather than their disability.

Our range of services includes supporting people to live independently within their own home or one of our homes or through community day activities. We offer short break services (respite services), enabling individuals to have some time away from home - perhaps just as a respite visit, a short holiday, or as a first step in learning how to live a more independent life.

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24

Trustees’ annual report

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

Our approach is to provide the right support in the right setting – facilitating individuals to develop independent living skills as well as ensuring clinical compliance, safety, and security. People will be supported to lead an active social life, with the reassurance of highly sensitive and person-centred support. This support is formally commissioned through a variety of commissioning frameworks.

Beneficiaries of our services

As outlined above, Heart of England Mencap provides care and support in a variety of ways to people living with a learning disability, their families and carers. It has been essential to continue to review our delivery to ensure that our customers receive person-centred care and meaningful, high level support.

Public benefit

Local Government has certain responsibilities towards people with a learning disability and other vulnerable groups under the Care Act 2014 and other legislation and in some cases chooses to commission these services to specialist providers under contractual frameworks, which we are awarded. The Trustees operate the charity within this external marketplace and provide a specialist third party source of care and support for those individuals, their families, dependents, and carers, who have a learning disability and/or autism. The public interest is served best when a sufficient number of providers are willing to offer services to a good standard - this improves the quality of the care provided and helps to manage costs for the public purse.

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 (April 2023 / March 2024). The Trustees 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 activities 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 particular, the Trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set.

The Trustees considered the issue of public benefit when looking strategically at the range of support services offered and continue to be committed to the charity being a specialist learning disability provider as they believe that this is the best way for it to fulfil its core objective.

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24

Trustees’ annual report

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

Activities and services

HoEM charitable activities focus on the provision of care and support to people with a learning disability and are undertaken to further Heart of England Mencap’s charitable purposes for the public benefit.

The charity operates various services, residential, supported living, respite/short break, community day services, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year for the benefit of individuals with a learning disability. Our services are practical, outcomes-focused and designed to be purposeful and to provide support, encouraging independence and autonomy.

Our Values

HoEM is a value based organisation, our strong value base underpins every aspect of the support we provide.

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24

Trustees’ annual report

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

We have reviewed our recruitment process to ensure that the right people are recruited. This begins with value based recruitment, leading coherently on to value based employment and development. Through training and regular team meetings, and supervisions, every effort is made to enhance the value of the role employees carry out in the eyes of customers, colleagues, commissioners and the wider public. We continue to be proud that HoEM is recognised as an Investor in People.

Achievements and performance

There have been several key achievements during the year:

Achievements in operational delivery and customer centred experience

Customers who have previously refused to access the community have been effectively supported to gradually leave their service. This has resulted in them enjoying trips to town, attending parties, and visiting their relations in their family’s homes.
Customers have been involved in planning trips and activities. This has resulted in customers going to theatre trips, shows and other activities that they have chosen and planned.
Customers have been supported to plan and go on holiday together with their support staff. This included supporting a customer to go on holiday who has never gone on holiday before.

Achievements in compliance

All our services that were inspected by CQC or monitored as part of the Local Authority Quality Assurance retained Good.
HoEM have moved from having an external nominated individual, to an internal nominated individual which has enabled there to be rigorous auditing and process-oriented observations and evaluations.
Focus on ensuring that there is organisational consistency in relation to recording and reporting.

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24

Trustees’ annual report

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

Achievements in governance

The HoEM Board subcommittees have been refined to guarantee that there is representation from Trustees with the most relevant experience.
Trustee Champions have been introduced with the following specialisms: Safeguarding, Medication, Systems and Processes, IT, and People and Culture.
In person training and service visits are now a standing item on the agenda part of the whole day Full Board meetings.
HoEM successfully achieved Cyber Essentials Accreditation which was effective from May 2023 followed by the Cyber Essentials Plus certification.

Achievements in employee effectiveness

Employees roles and job descriptions have been reviewed and revised to ensure that everyone has a job description that clearly and correctly describes the role that they are doing.
Heads of Department now meet in person with the CEO on a weekly basis, and are involved in strategic and financial discussions, and are working more collaboratively across the departments. This has increased the effectiveness of employee engagement in some teams and subsequently the level of quality they provide.

Achievements in partnership working

Establishing partnership working relationships has resulted in increased events and opportunities for our staff and customers with other organisations.

Achievements in customer co-production

HoEM has a formal customer co-production team, the Reach Out group, have been very productive. The members of the Reach Out group sit on a variety of national and local boards this includes;
Working in Partnership Learning Disability board.
- As members of the Working in Partnership Learning Disability board, the Reach Out Group meet regularly throughout the year (usually every 6 - 8 weeks), to discuss and share life experiences on the given topic/agenda. The agendas over the year have included: Direct Payments, Social Housing, Public Transport, and accessing NHS services.
- The Direct Payments focus led to a more detailed discussion about what we know about them, what advantages/disadvantages there are, how accessible are they, how can councils improve public access and knowledge. From these meetings, it was agreed that the current Direct Payments information on the council’s webpage could be improved and made more accessible. This led to members of the Reach Out Group, to join with other organisations to design an easy read version for the councils to share.

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24

Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 March 2024

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 ARC (Association for Real Change).

  - The Reach Out group meet with ARC (Association for Real Change) every 8 weeks on-line. This has led to customers meeting lots of other groups and individuals and creating their own internal group name and logo - Together for Change.

Coventry and Warwickshire Grapevine.
- This group have been instrumental in helping HoEM to connect with the wider community organisations.
The Reach Out group have created Easy Read documents/surveys to share with HoEM customers, such as 'My Care at Home'.

Each member that attends these meetings are paid in vouchers at £20 per hour - they are funded for up to £250 per person per financial year.

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24

Trustees’ annual report

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

Partnership working

HoEM recognise and value the many groups and individuals that have contributed to and enabled progress. Without this support, we couldn’t have achieved the significant progress we have made, and HoEM would like to take the opportunity to thank a number of local and national partners for their significant contribution to the work of Heart of England Mencap, including: The Royal Mencap Society, Association for Real Change (ARC), National Council of Voluntary Organisations, Stratford Town Trust, Myton Church, Garfield Weston Trust, Michael Marsh, 29th May 1961 Charity, Wills Charitable Trust, Clothworkers, Bernard Sunley Foundation, Eveson Trust, My Learning Cloud, and Restraint Reduction Network. In response to the identified need to improve our IT systems and move towards digitalisation we have strengthened our relationship with Pink Connect, and now refer to them as our IT department.

Financial Review

The surplus of income over expenditure for the year, before revaluation gains and losses, is £162,536 compared with a loss of £206,295 for the year ended 31 March 2023.

Operational income increased by 15.3% (2023: 6.1%). This was achieved through a combination of a 10% uplift awarded when the main service contracts were relet following a retender process, the full year effect of the new growth opportunities launched in 2023 and some additional work being won. Expenditure stabilised and there was a focus on cost control wherever possible. The unrestricted surplus (before gains/losses on investments) was £37,637 (2023 a loss of £198,556).

The charity holds investments in three COIF Charity Funds, with CCLA Investment Management, one of which is restricted and known as the Edith Rose Trust. These funds were left to the charity with the restriction that the income should be used for the welfare and amenity of customers.

The Trustees’ policy is to invest the funds with a recognised charity fund manager and to seek a balance between risk management, capital maintenance and steady income. The restricted fund achieved an income of 2.7% for the year (2023: 0.7%) which was used in full across the services.

The Trustees have an investment policy which requires them to identify investment vehicles which offer a sensible balance between cost, return and volatility risk. They have also identified investment opportunities which are not congruent with the organisation’s values and therefore they will avoid vehicles with holdings in companies which:

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24

Trustees’ annual report

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

produce cluster munitions and/or landmines.
produce tobacco products.
derive significant turnover from online gambling or the production of pornography.
have significant involvement (>10% of turnover) in alcohol, tobacco (rather than just producers of).
engage in high interest rate lending (as defined by the Church of England Policy).
have involvement in non-military weapons, or strategic military sales.
test cosmetics on animals.
have fallen behind the transition to a low carbon economy.
do not meet the FTSE4 Good Index Screen for baby milk substitutes or MSCI’s standard screen for single-use abortifacients.
have a FTSE ESG Rating of less than 2, on any theme, and have failed a subsequent CCLA ‘comply or explain’ assessment.
purchase sovereign debt from countries which are amongst the world’s most oppressive.

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24

Trustees’ annual report

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

Principal risks and uncertainties

Risk: Safeguarding – a customer suffers harm while in the care of the charity, leading to reputational and/ or financial damage to the organisation.

Mitigation:

A defined Designated Safeguarding Lead group is identified with representation from across all departments. This group meets monthly, regular DSL Reviews are held, and these are fed back to these monthly DSL meetings.
All employees, including volunteers, receive appropriate training. In addition to e-learning monthly in person training sessions are held to ensure everyone has regular in person safeguarding training.
There are robust procedures for supporting customers appropriately, and the introduction of rigorous monitoring to ensure these procedures are being followed.
Regular review of Health and Safety which feeds into a monthly Health and Safety meeting, that has with representation from across all departments.
Whistleblowing policy in place, and a clear process that employees and customers are made aware of if they need to use this in practice.
Safeguarding is a standing agenda item on Board Agendas- decisions are recorded. A Trustee Champion with specific responsibility for Safeguarding has been appointed to meet regularly with the Heads of Departments and CEO.

Risk: Financial – the organisation faces unmanageable financial demands that mean it is unable to continue as a going concern.

Mitigation:

The organisation reports its financial results regularly, investigates variances from plan and implements mitigating actions.
The organisation maintains close links with commissioners, third-sector peers and advisers and keeps in touch with announcements of changes that could affect the organisation financially or operationally.
The organisation looks for new opportunities to reduce reliability on one key funder
Financial changes are modelled into the forecasting tool to assess their longer term impact.
There is a robust governance process in place to ensure that trustees are informed promptly of any threats to the sustainability of the charity.

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24

Trustees’ annual report

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

Risk: Regulatory – the organisation fails to maintain good ratings across all services

Mitigation :

The organisation has a strong operational leadership team who are aware of the requirements and regulations.
The Nominated Individual role is recognised as a key role, this role has now moved from an external appointment to an internal role to ensure rigorous and consistent compliancy throughout the departments.

Risk: People and Culture - recruitment presents a significant challenge. Recruiting the wrong people risking lack of specialist and appropriate staff.

Mitigation:

HoEM have reviewed and revised recruitment process to ensure that the right people are recruited, as a result of suitably targeted recruitment, supported by a rigorous induction and training process.
We have reviewed staff performance and all managers have received compassionate leadership training which provided clear processes to monitor and address any staff performance issues. The appropriate training and guidance provided supportive, compassionate leadership strategies that managers can be implemented to support colleagues to personally and professionally develop and mitigate the risk of under performance.

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24

Trustees’ annual report

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

Reserves policy and going concern

HoEM holds a General Reserve to provide for day-to-day working capital and for contingencies, including protection against a decline in income, which cannot be quickly matched by a reduction in expenditure.

The Trustees consider that a General Reserve equivalent to three months’ expenditure (13 weeks’) is appropriate. The policy is reviewed by the Finance Committee following consideration of the Society’s financial results and other relevant factors and a recommendation is then put to the Board of Trustees for approval.

At 31 March 2024, the General Reserve was £972,229 (2023: £1,056,375), which represents around 8 weeks’ expenditure (2023: 10 weeks’). The Trustees have a target of 13 week’s expenditure as an appropriate level of reserves.

In January 2022 we purchased a property – 59 Chichester Lane, Hampton Magna - which was a cash purchase using our existing reserves balance exceeding our policy.

During the two years to 31 March 2024 there was also significant expenditure on projects to implement a Care Management System (CMS) across the organisation. This did not lead to securing a suitable solution. The Executive Team will be adopting a different approach in future years as this project is still critical to our future success.

We are conscious that the current holding is under the 13 weeks’ target. The Executive team and Trustees continue to focus on the growth of the organisation and to achieve a surplus in future financial years to rebuild the reserves to the levels felt appropriate.

At 31 March 2024, the restricted net current assets were £153,038 (2023: £126,395). These funds are restricted and not available for general purposes.

The Trustees continue to review progress against budget, their cash flow forecasts and borrowing plans. The Trustees recognise that there will have to be changes in the way that some services are delivered in the medium term and that this will influence the contributions which can be achieved from the various services. Although there will almost certainly be services which cannot continue, the Trustees believe that there are opportunities to reshape services and for the teams to introduce creative new solutions to satisfy the needs of customers and they have therefore concluded that it is reasonable to consider that the charity continues to be a going concern.

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24

Trustees’ annual report

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

Plans for the future

Plans for the future – key areas of identified growth*(2025/27)

Demonstrate coherent and accessible care and support customer pathway transitions across all HoEM services.
Reinforce HoEM’s external reputation in providing highly effective transition services. This will involve the facilitation of clear, consistent support for families and potential customers from various points of entry to HoEM including home, school, college, care farm or hospital.
Increase the number of HoEM Supported Living and Respite services that are CQC Registered, and subsequently the number of Registered Managers.
Embed the detailed robust business continuity plans, written and agreed throughout 24/25 [IT backups, customer and staff data, financial information, and operational documentation].
Establish effective, sustainable IT Configurations/Care Management Systems that provide rigorous recording and reporting will be used consistently across the organisation.

*The implementation on the analysis of the implementation of the first twelve months of the business plan (2024/5).

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24

Trustees’ annual report

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

Structure, governance and management

The organisation is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England on 30 April 1993 and registered as a charity on 27 June 1994. Day to day responsibility for its operational management is delegated to the Chief Executive Officer and through her to the Executive Team, who report on progress towards agreed objectives regularly to the Board of Trustees, its sub-committees, and our newly introduced Trustee Champions.

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. All Trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. Any expenses reclaimed from the charity are set out in note 9 to the accounts.

Appointment of trustees

Trustee vacancies are advertised as widely as possible, making use of free opportunities to publicise the fact that new talent is being sought and specifying any skills or qualifications required. In a lot of cases though applications come to us without advertising, through networking connections.
Letter of interest is received as to why they are interested in becoming a trustee. They are asked standardised questions. Then they will meet with other Trustees
The prospective candidate meets with the Chairman of the Board and the CEO in the first instance.
Throughout the trustee recruitment process we apply the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion to enable us to attract candidates from all community groups.

New trustee induction and training

An acknowledgment letter is sent with an application form for the candidate to complete, plus we request compliant documentation, ID evidence, DBS certificate (or we apply for one), Reference forms.
Once everything is received an acceptance letter is sent to confirm the appointment.
Charity commission is informed, and the website is updated.
Trustee completes declaration forms.
Pink Connect are notified of the new trustee for IT equipment and log in details. Trustees are also set up on our E learning platform.
Trustee completes relevant/mandatory training as agreed by the Board and the CEO. Safeguarding, GDPR, Equality and Diversity, physical Disabilities, Mental Capacity act, Deprivation of Liberty, Fire Safety, Data Protection and GDPR. This is done through both face to face and e-learning,

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24

Trustees’ annual report

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For the year ended 31 March 2024

Finally, a confidentiality agreement is signed alongside the fit and proper person’s form.
Trustee are given their ID and lanyard.
New Trustees are encouraged to spend time with the Executive Team and out in the services to get a good understanding of the work done by the charity and the internal processes and controls in place. In addition to full Board meetings, Finance and Assurance and Quality subcommittees are also held quarterly. These are diarised 12 months in advance.

Related parties and relationships with other organisations

HoEM is affiliated to the Royal Mencap Society. There are no related parties or relationships with other organisations requiring disclosure.

Remuneration policy for personnel

The charity previously focused this remuneration policy on key management personnel. However, this year we have established a remuneration committee that ensures that HoEM will remunerate all personnel fairly and in line with salaries paid by other similarly sized organisations in the area. The objective is to enable the charity to be able to recruit, retain and motivate its staff in an area of very low unemployment, while having regard for the rates payable to support staff and the fact that the organisation is a charity.

Policy for employment of disabled persons

HoEM’s policy is to hold all roles open to all applicants equally, having due regard to the health and safety of staff and customers. As a disability charity, it welcomes applications for available roles from disabled persons and actively looks for ways to accommodate disabilities. Were an employee to become disabled during the course of their employment, the same considerations would apply, and any necessary amendments would be made to adequately accommodate their needs.

Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 - 24