2021-03-31-accounts - Autism At Kingwood

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Autism at Kingwood Annual Report and Accounts 2020–2021 Our vision is a world that embraces autism.

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2019-2022

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

4 From the Chair and Chief Executive

24 26 Going Concern Assessment 27

Contents

Charity Management and Honorary Roles

Covid-19 – Our Response

8 Life in Lockdown 10 Lockdown Timeline 12 Better Pay for Social Care

Annual Review – Our Vision, Mission, Strategy, Achievements and Plans

Structure, Governance and Management

Board of Trustees and Their Interests

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

Public Benefit/Financial Statements

Statement as to Disclosure to our Auditors

Independent Auditors Report

Statement of Financial Activities

Balance Sheet

Statement of Cash Flows

Notes to the Financial Statements

Charity Management and Honorary Roles

Trustees

John Finney – Chair (01/01/2021) Sandra Meadows – Acting Chair (to 31/12/2020) David Swann – Treasurer Lisa Basford (29/4/2020) Steve Bastiman-Davies Dr Steven Carnaby Rebecca Vickers

Key Management

Kate Allen – Chief Executive Estelle Christmas – Chief Operating Officer

Patrons

Dame Stephanie Shirley CH – Founder Patron Lady Sonia Hornby Professor Anthony Bailey Virginia Bovell OBE Nick Hornby

The Rt Rev. and the Rt Hon. Lord Chartres GCVO Sue McGregor CBE John Lubbock CBE Jeremy Irons Sophie Mirman The Lord Puttnam of Queensgate CBE

Registered/Principal Office

2 Chalfont Court, Chalfont Close, Lower Earley, Reading, RG5 5SY 0118 931 0143

www.kingwood.org.uk info@kingwood.org.uk

Charity Number: 1041924 Company Number: 02980543

Auditors

Edwin Smith Chartered Accountants 32 Queens Road, Reading, RG1 4AU

Bankers

National Westminster Bank plc. 18 Market Place, Henley-on-Thames

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

From the Chair and Chief Executive

The last year certainly had its challenges. However, amongst it all were also successes, achievements and new experiences, and whilst we reflect on the impact of Covid-19 later on pages 6 and 7, there was much more to 2020/21 than just the pandemic.

Unsurprisingly, some of our ambitions for Year 2 of our strategic plan, Embracing Autism: Supporting the Future , had to be adjusted as our attentions were diverted to the new situation. However, it became apparent that the opportunity for people we support and employees to have access to a space for time out and relaxation was going to become even more important. So undeterred by the countrywide drop in fundraising, we persevered with our Holiday Home campaign and we were delighted to secure the £40,985.75 we needed to purchase a wonderful two bedroom caravan in Hardwick Park in Witney, Oxfordshire.

And although initially all new home movements were halted, this didn’t hold us back in our target to support more autistic adults; we supported 13 autistic people to move and settle into their new homes, making new friends and establishing new relationships despite the limitations on social activity.

We continued also to contribute to the Transforming Care Agenda assisting commissioners in Wiltshire to set-up services for autistic

people residing in hospital or treatment and assessment units.

Recognising that it is our frontline employees who make the difference every day to the people we support and frustrated at the long term austerity that has placed limitations on pay, we launched the campaign #BetterPay4SocialCare. With the backing of 27 other social care organisations across the country, we intend to take our call for action to the Treasury this coming autumn.

The role of Chair was shared this year with Sandy Meadows supporting the charity through the pandemic and handing the baton to John Finney in January 2021. Sandy’s support for Autism at Kingwood has been unwavering throughout her tenure and we are truly grateful for all that she has done and continues to do as we move into a new period of Chairmanship. John brings a wealth of business expertise that is of particular help as the social care sector continues to push back against ongoing austerity and cuts.

The intention for the coming year ahead is one of taking stock and rebuilding resilience in readiness to carry on helping autistic people with our typical enthusiasm and positivity.

As you read through this annual review, a reflection on the ups and downs of the last year, the standout point has to be each, and every Autism at Kingwood employee. We are so incredibly

proud of all that the charity has done during such difficult times and it could not have been achieved without the dedication, support, skill and loyalty of each employee in the wider Kingwood team.

Erring on the side of

caution and sensibility, it will unfortunately be another year without our large Annual Celebration; however, this will only serve to make the reunion next year all the more enjoyable.

As Chair and Chief Executive, we both very much look forward to welcoming you all, in person, to what will truly be a wonderful annual celebration in the year ahead of us.

Kate Allen

Chief Executive

John Finney Chair

“ I am proud to have taken on the role of Chair for Autism at Kingwood, and I am committed to doing what I can to enable the charity to thrive and succeed in its mission. The integrity and passion of the entire Kingwood team for delivering such a high level of specialist care is striking. At the organisation level, my priorities are to ensure that outstanding care provided by our team is recognised by the government and local authorities alike, ensuring continuous long-term stability to our organisation. For our staff, my focus is to prioritise the Real Living Wage for our brilliant care workers. As importantly, expanding our focus towards even higher levels of social care, employment opportunities and diagnostic support to expand the potential and wellbeing of the deserving autistic individuals under the care of Autism at Kingwood.” John Finney Chair

“ We could not have survived the last year and achieved all that we did without the dedication and skill of each employee in the Kingwood Team. I am so, so proud of Autism at Kingwood.” Kate Allen Chief Executive

“ Last year was an extremely challenging year for Autism at Kingwood with Covid-19 sweeping the nation and it is thanks to the dedication of our staff being prepared to go beyond the expected that enabled us to come through this. My heart-felt thanks goes to them.” Sandra Meadows Acting Chair to December 2020

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Covid-19 – Our Response

As 2020 started, the charity and its Senior Leadership Team were closely monitoring the position around the inevitable outbreak and spread of Covid-19. We had undertaken a number of actions throughout February as precautionary measures: we were ready and prepared. When the announcement came on the 23 March to lockdown and ‘Stay at Home’, those who could did with the focus on supporting those who couldn’t.

However, no one was prepared for what followed. It has been one of the hardest years that the charity has faced. We had to make drastic changes to the way we functioned, and so much of what we did had to change in order to focus on the priority which was primarily, and quite simply, keeping people safe and alive.

Whilst much of the country paused, Autism at Kingwood (like others in health and social care) did the opposite. Responding to the rapidly changing guidance from the Government and Public Health England as their knowledge of Covid-19 grew, tension increased, pace increased and responsibility increased. Holidays were cancelled, annual leave plans changed, overtime went up and along with it the determination to do the very best we could. We never take for granted the enormous responsibility we have, looking after some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

As a diligent support provider, Autism at Kingwood has always been vigilant around infection control, with thorough policies and procedures. As a measure of preparedness, prior to the outbreak of Covid-19 in the UK, we had already created and distributed our own preparation plan to all managers across the organisation with guidance on how we would respond if the coronavirus were to have an impact on the people we support and/or our staff teams.

Allen, providing updates and incidence of Covid-19 cases.

Proactively promote our existing external, confidential employee wellbeing scheme to our staff.
Increase our occupational sick pay entitlement by two weeks for Covid-19 related instances.
Introduce a laundry allowance to contribute towards washing costs for our support workers, so that they could wash their clothes at the end of each shift.

With the health and well-being of people we support and our employees at the heart of our actions, we initiated our business continuity plan swiftly and we were able to:

Offer a host and guest allowance for colleagues who chose to stay with one another, to minimise the transmission risk of going home.
Introduce three weekly Covid-19 risk management and response briefings.
Source adequate PPE in a home. timely manner and ensure all staff were trained and • Create an online resource adhered to PPE and handhub for staff. washing guidelines.
Create accessible information with a video using Makaton sign language to explain social distancing and hand washing to help people we support.
Move almost all our training to e-learning (critical training around working with people in difficult situations had to remain face-to-face with additional enhanced infection control measures to protect attendees).

The impact Covid-19 had on people we support and staff was significant. Some autistic people experienced less anxiety as social expectations reduced and settings became more peaceful. Others struggled considerably with the sudden change in routines, seeing their support workers in masks, the restricted access to normal day-to-day activities

Introduce new technology and develop new skills rapidly to enable successful remote working.
Increase communication with a weekly update to people we support, staff and families from CEO Kate

and social isolation. For many the changing guidance and rules from the government was confusing and we saw the impact of all these factors on the mental health of both people we support and those caring for them. Some people we support chose to cancel support and isolate.

Despite facing their own personal challenges outside of work and keeping their own families safe, support staff responded with commitment and compassion. We were proud that our front-line support workers were acknowledged for the first time as key workers during the early months of the pandemic.

Support staff went the extra mile to ensure people remained safe and, because of them, cases remained low. During the year, ten people we support caught the virus; all made a full recovery without overnight hospitalisation.

Although it was frustrating that local authorities each had different processes, as identified key workers, Autism at Kingwood employees were able to access the vaccination relatively quickly in the roll out plan, quickly surpassing the 80% target as advised by the British Medical Journal (BMJ). We continue to strongly encourage employees to follow Government guidance and get vaccinated as research continues to suggest that vaccination is an important step in both helping reduce transmission rates and highly effective at preventing hospitalisation and death.

“

It has been one of the hardest years that the charity has faced. We had to make drastic changes to way we functioned and so much of what we did had to change in order to focus on the priority which was primarily, and quite simply, keeping people safe, and alive.

At the time of writing this, 142,000 people have died as a result of Covid. It is with overwhelming emotions that we reflect that, despite continuing to provide direct care daily to more than 120 autistic people, no one we support died as a result of Covid-19 and no employees died as a result of Covid-19.

This may be one of the most significant and important outcomes the charity has ever had.

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Life in Lockdown

Commitment

When the first lockdown came along, I had to make a decision about how I would care for and protect my children. I am a single parent and my eldest has autism and a few other conditions which leave him with a weaker immune system. Not working wasn’t an option financially and I didn’t want to be out of work for five months as I would lose relationships with the people we support, and I would have felt that I was letting my team down.

After speaking to my parents, I realised that for me to be able to continue to do my role and to protect my children, my children would need to move in with them.” Beth, Support Worker

Continuing Services

During lockdown, our oneto-one work with disability assistance dog charity Dogs for Good went virtual. We found ways of continuing support to individuals who were working with Fleck, so they could continue to work towards their personal goals, such as continuing to learn about road safety using cards.

Being Productive

“Catalin coloured this blanket during lockdown – he’s brilliant in choosing colours. We have ironed it and it can be washed and used to sit on during outdoor activities.” Milca, Support Worker

As soon as lockdown was lifted, “Our staff at our Wallingford it was business as usual at our service transformed the garden large allotment in Henley-onshed into a shop, so that Thames. Adam, our Gardening the people they supported Coordinator, ensured people we could still have a shopping support continued to enjoy the experience. And then, during therapeutic benefits of being December, it morphed into a outdoors, working with as many grotto and hosted a memorable people as possible, depending Christmas party!” on restrictions.

We made social stories to explain why Fleck the dog wasn’t visiting, a jigsaw puzzle made from a photo of Fleck, cards from Fleck and a birthday card for Fleck! Autism at Kingwood and Dogs for Good found ways to boost morale and maintain progress towards peoples’ progress.

Getting Out

This is a great way to help the local councils with their mission to collect rubbish and keep local areas tidy so we can all enjoy them – this could also help to prevent many more viruses from spreading.” Jamie won the 2020 Bicester Local Heroes Award!

“Hi, I’m Jamie and I am supported by Autism at Kingwood. I am autistic and set up litter picking voluntary groups in Bicester and Banbury to encourage other people to bin their litter responsibly. This

Families

Being parted from loved ones was upsetting for many of the people we support and their families. As soon as restrictions were lifted, we enabled families to be reunited.

“When we stand out on our doorsteps on a Thursday night and clap a lot of my claps are for you and your staff as without you being there and doing what you do in this difficult situation, I dread to think what would happen to our sons. So can you please share with all your staff so they at least know that we are so thankful for your amazing and dedicated work, work that at times goes completely unnoticed. Thank you all from us here. You are our heroes.” A family member

matters to me so everyone can enjoy the environment around them equally. I feel strongly that during the pandemic litter picking is a great way to stay connected with other people and share common goals for the same project – taking care of the environment, parks, country parks and local green spaces. I hope this action will set a good example for the next generation to follow as well as helping people’s mental health by getting outside and connecting them with nature.

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Timeline

4 March

Data gathering in progress of high risk people we support and employees.

5 March

IT preparation commences to ensure remote working possible if needed.

16 March

PM says stop nonessential travel.

2020

July

20 March

We hold our first virtual family meeting.

Launch fast-track online recruitment process for people facing uncertainty at work.

8 May

31 January:

23 March

Since mid-March we have purchased more than 50,000 gloves, 12,000 aprons and almost 7,000 face masks.

Business Continuity Plan reviewed and precautionary Coronavirus Emergency Plan created.

PM says stay at home.

25 March

Kingwood conducts its first support worker interview online.

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JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL
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MAY

JUNE

JULY

1 April

20 February

June

Sees Kingwood host its induction training online just eight days after going to virtual working. Dogs for Good work remotely with people we support. 15 April

The Senior Leadership Team start trialling MS Teams on their phones and laptops.

Lockdown eases and continues through July and August, with local authorities given powers to impose lockdowns and social distancing.

Testing sites available for staff in social care settings.

24 April

We welcome 23 new employees since 20 March.

To date, I21 members of staff have so far reported Covid symptoms. 28 April

A minute’s silence to honour key workers who lost their lives to Covid-19.

October

The Select Committee on Health and Social Welfare published their report, ‘Social care: funding and workforce’ focussing on the woeful lack of government December funding in the sector. Second lockdown ends. It identifies that social Weekly swab tests care workers should are available to all receive the Real Living employees. Wage and estimates Fundraising for our that government needs holiday home is to invest £7.9bn into complete! health and social care. 21 December

2021

14 October Tier 4 restrictions come February A new three-tier system into force in London Government launches of Covid-19 restrictions and the South East with ‘Care for Others, Make starts in England. the advice ‘Keep Your a Difference’ to drive Oxford moves into Distance and Stay At people to a career in Tier 2. Home.’ social care.

AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH

12 March

November

6 January

August

Kate Allen thanks those employees who have taken up the first vaccination with a £25 voucher. Government u-turns and offers all adults with autism or a learning disability a vaccine, after Jo Whiley campaign.

Second lockdown in UK enters third England comes into lockdown. force. Vaccinations available Social Care to staff. organisations join our #BetterPay4SocialCare campaign. Sarah Shield, our Transition Manager, is short-listed for the Pride of Reading ‘Inspiration’ award.

We open our Henley Allotment Gardening Project.

We deliver our first tailored face-toface training since lockdown, to support staff working with people with complex needs.

September

We launch #BetterPay4SocialCare, petitioning government to increase funding to ensure support workers receive better pay. The rule of six is banned, working from home is made mandatory, and hospitality curfew at 10pm.

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Better Pay for Social Care

The pandemic has shown just how much we rely on our nation’s 1.52m care and skilled support workers and the risks they take to do their job.

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Care
#Better Pay 4 Social
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At Autism at Kingwood, frontline staff cancelled holidays, undertook overtime and lived away from their families, to ensure that the people they support remained safe; they truly went above and beyond for those they support, Autism at Kingwood and to society.

We showed our appreciation through words, but this wasn’t enough. There was an elephant in the room called ‘Low Pay’. The Senior Leadership Team had to do something about this.

on the left column, how much we can pay a support worker based on the rates we receive. The column on the right identifies how much we need from local authorities, in order to pay the Real Living Wage (this is the amount that has been calculated by the Real

Living Wage Foundation as the minimum amount to live on).

We therefore decided to launch a petition calling on government to provide increased ring-fenced funding to local authorities to pass on to social care providers so that all social care workers receive a minimum of the Real Living Wage.

The salary our support workers receive is determined by an hourly rate that local authorities pay us. Our calculation shows,

Current hourly rate for Real Living Wage hourly support workers we rate for support workers can afford we want to pay

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Hourly rate Real Living Wage
hourly rate
£8.91 £9.50
NI, tax, pension, NI, tax, pension,
leave & sickness leave & sickness
estimate £4.64 estimate £5.90
Training, Training,
management management
£2.65 £2.65
Apportioned core costs Apportioned core costs
includes finance, HR & includes finance, HR &
recruitment, leadership, recruitment, leadership,
Head Office Head Office
£2.73 £2.73
TOTAL COST TOTAL COST
TO CHARITY £18.93 TO CHARITY £20.78
Local Authority hourly payments We can only pay the Real Living
to Autism at Kingwood range Wage if local authorities pay us
between £16.39 – £18.40 this hourly rate
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https://you.38degrees. org.uk/petitions/ betterpay4socialcare

We reached out to other social care organisations in England, and set up a collaboration – www.betterpay4socialcare. org, all working to promote the petition, which we will continue to promote and deliver to the government in 2021.

Annual Review – Our Vision, Mission, Strategy, Achievements and Plans

The Board of Trustees and Senior Leadership Team continue to embrace the threeyear strategic plan taking the charity through 2019 to 2022.

mission through working with those who can help us: autistic people, including those we support; relatives of autistic people; our workforce; other organisations and other

Our vision is simply a world that professionals. embraces autism.

Our mission is to enable each person we support to develop “ greater independence, discover their potential and enjoy a better quality of life.

Our mission is to enable each Our vision person we support to develop “ is simply a greater independence, discover their potential and enjoy a world that better quality of life. embraces In 2019 we identified five autism. strategic objectives that will enable us to achieve our mission. We have a strong track record in collaboration and we strive to achieve our

1 EXPERT SUPPORT

2 FINANCIALLY FIT

3 REPUTATION & REACH

4 OPPORTUNITIES

5 INFORM & INFLUENCE

To deliver high quality service provision that meets the changing needs of people we support and is safe, caring, responsive, effective and well-led. To embed the Kingwood Approach model of support with consideration to emerging best practice within the sector.

To be economically viable with a forecast for on-going financial stability.

To strengthen further our reputation, develop the range of services and widen our geographical spread.

To develop a wider range of meaningful development and leisure opportunities and activities, including employment, for people we support.

To raise awareness of autism and contribute to the evidence base seeking to improve the quality of life for autistic people.

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Expert Support

Wiltshire Specialist Support

Autism at Kingwood was chosen by Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group to set up specialist support for vulnerable autistic adults who were in longterm inpatient assessment units.

Working alongside international organisation ‘Lives Through Friends’, our Berkshire and Wiltshire Area Manager, Sarah Shield, embarked on our longterm programme, supporting people to move out of this type of care, and assist them and their families in the creation of the lives that they aspire to.

Estelle Christmas, our COO said: “Our aim is to facilitate arrangements for individuals whose lives may have been blighted by the system, who may have spent overly long periods of time in hospital away from their families, or whose ‘challenging’ reputations have gone before them making it difficult for effective care and support to be sourced.

We continue to be proud of our ability “ to reach out to some of the most marginalised and vulnerable people of our society…

have adjustments to life to make allowances for sensory processing. It has become common place for parents to withdraw their children from school because of this. The school, hospital, and many more environments are completely inappropriate for autistic people, it creates grave anxiety which goes on to be carried throughout life. The hospital environment did profound damage to Lee, physically and mentally.”

Windrush House, Oxfordshire

Following a lot of hard work and development activity during the considerably challenging period of the pandemic, Kingwood was delighted to open the doors of ‘Windrush’, a beautiful supported living home situated in Witney. We had pleasure in greeting four autistic women to who were supported to move in at a level and pace conducive to their needs.

The creative and empowering aspect of this means that individuals have a real say in who supports them. We continue to be proud of our ability to reach out to some of the most marginalised and vulnerable people of our society and take immense pride in the commitment and dedication of our workforce in paving the way for this to happen.”

We supported Lee out of longterm care and into a place she can call home, working with her and her family to ensure she was able to make her own choices about the life she wants to lead.

The staff pulled together to ensure the environment was warm and welcoming for the women.

This was a significant life change for each of the women and we allocated our specialist Autism Support Practitioner, Jayme, to provide additional support to help the transition. Jayme says: “I love what I do

Lee’s mum says: “I talk to parents every day and it has become apparent and crucial that autistic people

understanding of myself and how to manage struggles. I also had for two-three months or so some weekly 1-2-1 meetings with one of their staff so they could give me personalised support and tips/tricks on how to make life easier. It was very good and helpful. They made me work on my acceptance. It is still a work in progress but I made great progress with them and I will be forever grateful for their time and patience.”

Alexandrine Kantor

because I get to go into a service where somebody isn’t very happy, or experiencing problems or struggling with something and I can help to make them feel better. In an ideal world, I can walk away knowing that person is happy and settled and has the best quality of life that they can.’’

During the year, OAADSS received 467 referrals, and 107 received an assessment. The OAADDS workshops cover topics including understanding autism, social communication, sensory challenges, mental health and well-being, moving on after diagnosis, what’s next, budgeting, emotional resilience and executive functioning.

“OAADSS diagnosed me in October. Then I enrolled for their virtual workshops to help me get on with life with a new

Autism at Kingwood is proud to deliver the Oxfordshire Adult Autism Diagnostic & Support Service (OAADSS), commissioned by the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group.

2022 Next year we will:

Create a highly specialist Transforming Lives team to support autistic people across our services, as well as assisting people in moving on from institutional settings such as the Assessment and Treatment Units (ATUs).

Since the launch in July 2018, OAADSS has received 1,049 referrals from people living in Oxfordshire, either from self-referral or via GPs. Of these, 406 people have already received a diagnostic assessment. In addition to diagnosis, OAADSS has responded to 551 enquiries for advice and guidance and delivered 18 skills workshops to 193 people.

In Kingwood’s opinion, what isn’t acceptable is for the individual to remain within that environment for any unnecessary extended period of time due to the lack of community expertise and resource provision.

Kingwood’s Transforming Lives team will pave the way for positively impacting the lives of many people who currently reside within such environments and enable them opportunities for more inclusive and meaningful lives.

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Financially Fit

The 2020-21 financial year was one of great and constant uncertainty as Covid-19 associated costs escalated, income became unreliable and development plans halted. Although a key objective for the year had been to redesign financial processes, as with services, the priority instead became our Covid response.

However, financially it was a positive year overall bringing with it a surplus on core services of £105,715 and an overall net position (including expenditure on value added projects and donations) of £239,420.

In order to stabilise those providing adult social care and protect income, local authorities committed to continuing payment for those individuals who were declining support as a result of Covid. This was a critical action as employee costs escalated with the increased sickness and absence that continued throughout the year as employees were unwell, or shielding and self-isolating, whether by choice or as notified by Track & Trace.

A delicate balancing act followed throughout the year; recruiting and appointing new staff alongside a heavy reliance on the use of well-known but expensive agency staff in order to maintain critical support, yet minimising movements between services in order to protect against the risk of transmission.

Autism at Kingwood 2020/21 Financial Performance

Expenditure

Income

Income	Income	Expenditure	Expenditure
● Oxfordshire Adult Autism		● Oxfordshire Adult Autism
Diagnostic Service	£300,000	Diagnostic Service	£274,318
● Berkshire	£1,467,143	● Berkshire	£1,400,189
● Buckinghamshire	£66,3925	● Buckinghamshire	£748,963
● Oxfordshire	£5,522,320	● Oxfordshire	£5,543,530
● Fundraising	£76,540	● Fundraising	£8,709
● Other income	£215,135	● Other expenditure	£29,934
Total	£8,245,063	Total	£8,005,643

As part of efforts to support employees revised sickness entitlements and allowances were introduced and Covid-19 payments from the government were a welcome relief as they contributed towards the additional expenditure. Although grateful for the VAT exemption, extensive costs were incurred due to PPE with the year total of £29,934.

new support and transition arrangements stop, the needs of autistic people continue, pandemic or otherwise, and so as the year progressed new services were opened in Oxfordshire, vacancies filled in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, and a new contract model was established with Wiltshire commissioners.

The uncertainty of income and expenditure during the first half of the year, alongside the change in finance personnel, saw the cash flow risk increase. However, the charity’s cash position had improved by £446,027 in the year, to reach £1,051,523 (2019/20: £605,496).

In order to minimise expenditure, Autism at Kingwood halted recruitment for all non-essential roles including those in HR, Practice & Operations. Operationally, this was a delicate balance with increased workloads and at a time of significant pressure. However, we managed carefully and successfully for an interim period.

Investing in the needs of the charity at such a critical time, a change in the structure of the finance team saw the introduction of a Chief Financial Officer and Finance Manager. Together the team contributed significantly to driving change.

A significant reduction in travel by both non-frontline staff and those undertaking training considerably reduced the organisation’s expenditure. As with most companies, a hybrid model has been adopted for the future that will see some of those savings continue.

Reserves

The charity maintains adequate cash reserves in light of the main risks to the organisation. For the 2020/21 year the charity held free reserves of £300k. For the coming 2021/22 year this will be increased to £550k.

Although the first quarter of the year saw almost all

Reputation and Reach

The number of people we supported increased from 127 to 140 by the end of the year. We developed two new supported living services in Oxfordshire, providing support to nine people. Our Outreach support, where we provide a few hours each week to help people live independently, also increased.

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BUCKINGHAMSHIRE
OXFORDSHIRE
BERKSHIRE
WILTSHIRE
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We increased our reach to Wiltshire, where we embarked on specialist work, supporting people in their transition from inpatient care into the community.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

autistic people from ethnic minority backgrounds, they are within the minority.

We are committed to ensuring that everyone is treated with dignity and respect; no person acting on our behalf shall discriminate in any situation against another individual or group, directly or indirectly. We actively encourage applications from individuals with diverse backgrounds.

2022 Next year we will:

40% 38% of our are from support black and workers minority are male ethnic UK average groups is 18.3% UK average is 15.5%

During the latter half of 2020, we improved the data we collect on employees to better audit our diversity. Against the trend for social care, our frontline workforce has a good gender balance and we can evidence diversity across ethnicity. We will build further on this good foundation.

Continue to proactively respond to the government’s ‘Transforming Care’ agenda around moving people out of inpatient assessment units; to be a specialist exemplar for others.

Ensure we are doing our best to deliver Equality, Diversity and Inclusion to the people we support and our staff’

Autism at Kingwood’s referral and assessment process does not discriminate against any autistic people regardless of their background, ethnicity or lifestyle. However, whilst we do provide support to some

Source: NHS National Statistics 2020

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)

EDI ensures fair treatment and opportunity for all and the eradication of prejudice and discrimination at work.

Autism at Kingwood has a comprehensive Equality Opportunities Policy that is extended further with clear guidance around the provision of a Positive Working A programme of learning Environment. on unconscious bias will be rolled out across We provide training during the organisation with our induction programme all members of the on discrimination, equality Senior Leadership and and diversity; discussing the Management teams.

We provide training during our induction programme on discrimination, equality and diversity; discussing the significance of happiness and personal well-being in the workplace. The Senior Leadership and Management Teams have completed Equality and Diversity training within the last 12 months to ensure it remains at the forefront of practice.

Yet research, people’s experiences and data all show evidence that there is room for improved diversity within the charitable sector.

The charity’s existing Autism at Kingwood joined the Equal Opportunities collaboration Racial Equality Policy will be reviewed Matters to feed our learning to improve diversity and and drive improvements not inclusion. just across our organisation but all areas where we as a charity and/or individual can influence change.

In order to make more positive steps towards improving our diversity and becoming more inclusive, we will actively seek the views of those groups who govern us, who we employ and who we support.

We will share the results of our diversity statistics on our website and agree two year targets with our HR Committee and Board of Trustees. This will be reviewed annually.

We will complete an EDI audit of trustee diversity and the Chair and CEO we will take a targeted recruitment approach to address identified gaps.

We will analyse our diversity data and share transparently on our website. From this we can identify gaps and measures we might take to improve the diversity of our workforce across all levels.

We will identify and remove any barriers that might prevent the progression of employees from a diverse range of backgrounds.

We will seek feedback and opinion from our ethnic minority employees to guide our response.

We will collate diversity data for the geographical areas in which we work and identify local targets on reaching ethnic minority autistic people.

We will monitor the referrals received to explore how we might improve the reach and accessibility of our services.

We are committed to undertake the following, in our drive to be the best we can in being an organisation that ensures equality, diversity and inclusion.

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Opportunities

The Henley Allotment

We secured three-year funding to employ a Gardening Coordinator in 2020, and were delighted to host a socially distanced event in July, where our patron, Jeremy Irons, officially opened the project.

The Henley allotment project enables people we support to enjoy tranquillity, gardening therapy and the outdoors, and has been a valuable resource to people experiencing heightened anxiety due to lockdown and the pandemic.

Adam, our Gardening Ben is a regular at the Henley Coordinator, supports autistic allotment. Adam says: “Ben is gardeners in their allotment as committed as ever to the planning, activity and skills project and has been working development in a safe space. really hard this month. He has During the year, they were able helped create a new accessible to successfully grow a wide raised bed, helped with painting variety of fruit and vegetables, around the site and also put from both our donated polylots of wood chip around the tunnel and outdoor space. walk ways and keeping the

grass areas neatly mown. While Ben really seems to enjoy the physical side of things (digging, mowing, painting etc.), he has never showed much interest in the growing side of things. However, after a few conversations about what he likes to eat and with a lot of encouragement he agreed to be allocated a bed to grow his own produce. Ben has chosen to grow things he will eat (very wise) including potatoes, garlic, strawberries, corn and still has left some room for other stuff that he fancies having a go at. Ben is a great asset to the project and his hard work and commitment are to be commended.”

“ Ben is as committed as ever to the project and has been working really hard this month.

Holiday Home

Lockdown wasn’t an easy year in which to fundraise, and so we were grateful to receive funding to buy a holiday home for autistic adults, their families and our incredible frontline support workers. The mobile home is set in a peaceful holiday setting in rural west Oxfordshire and will be available for people to stay for short or week-long breaks.

plants, and create a mindfulness area. Thanks to Simply Plants, Gibbs & Dandy, UK Gay Gardeners and The Silvers’ Workshop for their donations.

Many people supported by Autism at Kingwood do not have easy access to an affordable holiday – or to respite when things get difficult. Holidays and specialist holidays for people with disabilities are available, but they are too expensive for many who rely on local authority social care packages.

Sincere thanks to those who

helped fund and kit out our area. Thanks to Simply Plants, holiday home, including the Gibbs & Dandy, UK Gay Doris Field Charitable Trust, Mr Gardeners and The Silvers’ and Mrs J A Pye’s Charitable Workshop for their donations. Settlement, Adrian Swire Charitable Trust, Ammco The Kennel Club Charitable Trust, P F Charitable Trust, Trust also continued to fund Christopher Laing Foundation, the important work we do with Bartlett Taylor Charitable Trust, Dogs for Good. Baily Thomas Charitable Fund, Ormonde Foundation and the We received unrestricted Shanly Foundation. We deeply income, enabling us to provide appreciate the support of activities and added-value parents, people we support, to people we support. Thank staff, patrons and trustees who you to the Thomas J Horne donated, or set up Facebook Memorial Trust; we received Birthday Fundraisers, with a legacy gift from a parent of special acknowledgement to someone we support, which we John Finney for his generous honour with gratitude. We are donation. grateful also to our supporters who provide regular giving with A charitable trust continues a monthly donation, helping us to fund the salary of our to plan for future fundraising Gardening Coordinator and projects.

Covid-19 has caused heightened anxiety amongst people we support; having this holiday home established in 2021 will help us provide therapeutic breaks to help reduce those built-up anxieties.

Thank You!

We would be unable to fulfil these projects without the generosity of our supporters. With much needed emergency funding required across the country, we are grateful that individuals, organisations, companies and trusts nevertheless chose to support Autism at Kingwood.

A charitable trust continues to fund the salary of our Gardening Coordinator and during the year, we were supported through donations to buy much needed materials and equipment, enabling Adam and people we support to make benches and tables, purchase

Thanks to The Ethical Branding Co. for its significant pro-bono work throughout the year.

2022 Next year we will:

Continue to fundraise to create a Skills, Activities and Work Manager to develop opportunities across the Thames Valley.

Use unrestricted income to allocate small grants for people we support to enable them to participate in meaningful activities.

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Inform and Influence

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Care
#Better Pay 4 Social
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Better Pay for Social Care Campaign

We set up this campaign to call on government to increase funding so that our nation’s support and care workers received a minimum of the Real Living Wage. Over 20 social care organisations joined our campaign during the year: www.betterpay4socialcare.org

The #BetterPay4SocialCare partnership then became a joint member of the Future Social Care Coalition, set up initially by former Health and Social Care ministers, union and charity leaders, campaigning for social care reform.

Racial Equality Matters With a commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), we joined the collaboration Racial Equality Matters to feed our learning and drive improvements not just across our organisation but all areas where we as a charity and/or individual can influence change. Our CEO Kate pledges to:

“Set a zero tolerance to racism and micro-aggressions policy, with published, clear consequences for those that do not adhere; build the mechanisms to identify, develop and promote ethnic minority people and develop the talent pipeline; annually publish our ethnicity pay gap and set targets with an action plan to meet them; ensure all elements of reward and recognition, from appraisals to bonuses, are fair and reflect the racial diversity of the organisation; actively sponsor ethnic minority (especially black) talent in our workplace; set stretching targets and collate information, including Board and Senior Leadership Team race diversity targets and breakdown of employees by race and pay band.”

The Seldom Heard Project

Exploring how the views of people with severe or profound learning disabilities and autism can be better heard in decisions about their support and their lives, Autism at Kingwood is an active member of the advisory group to NHS England funded research led by the Challenging Behaviour Foundation and the Tizard centre. No Words but Lots to Say will be published in the coming year.

Global Equality Collective

We committed to working with the Global Equality Collective to be part of the dialogue that can help achieve equality.

2022

Next year we will continue to:

ACEVO

Advocate and work with partners, to support autistic people leaving hospital.

Kate signed up to the ACEVO (Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations) Eight Principles on Challenging and Changing Diversity in the Charity Sector.

Organise action and deliver our petition for enhanced recognition and pay for social care workers.

Report on our environmental impact, and set targets to reduce our carbon footprint.

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Structure, Governance and Management

Charitable status was granted to Autism at Kingwood on 3 November 1994, known then as The Kingwood Trust. The charity is a private company limited by guarantee. Its governing documents are its Memorandum and Articles of Association.

The Autism at Kingwood Board of Trustees sets the strategy and monitors the charity’s key risks. Responsibility for implementing the strategy and day-to-day operational issues sits with the Chief Executive who, in turn, is supported by a team of suitability qualified and skilled individuals.

Good governance is achieved through sub-committees meeting regularly throughout the year and making recommendations to the full Board, which meets four times a year. These sub-committees include Risk & Care Practice, Finance & Development and Human Resources. Furthermore the Board Members maintain regular contact with the Chief Executive throughout the year.

The skills and expertise required within the Board of Trustees are reviewed regularly to help the charity deliver its objectives. If gaps are identified or a vacancy occurs, new trustees with the appropriate skills and experience are identified.

On 31 March 2021, there were seven Board of Trustees members and the year saw a handover from Interim Chair Sandra Meadows, to newly appointed Chair John Finney alongside the appointment of

Lisa Basford to the Board and HR Committee.

All trustees are offered a full induction when they join and trustee training is available to keep trustees up to date with the environment in which the charity operates. All trustees give of their time voluntarily without remuneration. Details of trustees’ reimbursed expenses are disclosed in note 6. The pay of senior staff is reviewed annually and trustees benchmark pay levels against the market rates for comparable roles and the ability to retain key personnel.

Risk Management

The Board is ultimately responsible for setting the risk appetite and making sure we mitigate risks as far as possible.

It delegates to the appropriate sub-committee with relevant extracts from both the Risk Matrix and Business Plan presented for scrutiny and oversight with discussion focusing predominantly on those more significant risks. The full accumulated risk register is presented to the Trustees at Board meetings at least three times a year.

While the Board generally takes a prudent approach to risk management, it recognises that things do go wrong from time to time, and accepts that we need to take some risks to be able to grow. The risk management framework is designed to give a clear view of our risks and make sure we’re not exposed to them unnecessarily.

Effective risk management

makes for informed decisionmaking and helps us deliver on our business objectives.

Unsurprisingly, the key risk to the charity throughout the year was Covid-19. This was introduced to the risk matrix and monitored closely throughout the year. Taking a strongly directive approach initially, in addition to daily operational contact the Chief Executive introduced three formal weekly risk response meetings with her senior leadership team at the outset of the pandemic; as the situation stabilised these reduced accordingly.

The first half of the financial year also saw additional scrutiny from the Finance & Development Committee on the cash flow position until the position settled.

Investment Policy

To date it has been the policy of

the Board to hold any available funds in the form of cash and cash equivalents. However, investment opportunities will be considered in the coming year.

Complaints Policy

The organisation has a comprehensive complaints policy that is communicated clearly and available according to the Accessible Information Standard. Furthermore, Autism at Kingwood regularly engages with families, people we support and professionals to ensure stakeholders have the opportunity to provide feedback. These opportunities were largely conducted virtually during the last year.

Recruitment, Appointing and Training of Trustees

The Autism at Kingwood Board of Trustees saw some changes during the last year, as detailed on page 27. When recruiting new Board members, the Chair and Trustees undertake an open recruitment process based on a clear role specification.

Advertisements are shared on our website, social media and LinkedIn, in addition to recruitment sites such as Charity Jobs. Trustees also approach individuals who may be able to make a particular contribution and invite them to be considered. The charity applies its equal opportunities policy to the appointment of trustees. There exists a comprehensive induction programme and trustee manual.

Whilst there is good diversity in some categories at present, gender and age being examples, the Board recognise there is a lack of ethnic and disability diversity and have made a commitment to set clear targets in the 2021/22 year.

Reserves Policy & Development Fund

The charity maintains adequate cash reserves in light of the main risks to the organisation.

Cash reserves and fixed assets combine to provide free reserves of £1,600,000.

This represents 2.5 months’ operating costs with free cash reserves set against the charity’s two largest contracts, which approximately equate to £300k in 2020/21.

The charity has a long

established Development Fund with income generated from restricted and unrestricted donations; historic income from the sale of a property in 2018 and some operating surplus funds. However, expenditure reduced considerably over the last year as Covid-19 curtailed activities and a cautious approach was adopted to new projects.

We spent £43,611 (2019/20 £105,811) throughout the course of the year.

Prudency remains as we proceed into the 2020/21 financial year with only guaranteed funded or value proven projects supported.

The total funds held at the year-end are £2,096,906 of which £78,578 relates to the designated Development Fund and £274,436 in respect of restricted funds.

Employee Engagement

The employees at Autism at Kingwood are the backbone of our organisation. Working with autistic adults can be challenging and so the opinions, feedback and well-being of our workforce is vitally important to us. This has been especially so during the pandemic.

During the last year we have:

Conducted our annual staff well-being survey, reported back on the results and identified what we might be able to do better in order to increase staff well-being and engagement.
Held an annual staff forum.
Proactively promoted our existing external, confidential employee wellbeing assistance scheme to our staff.
Increased our internal communications so that our workforce receive weekly updates from the Chief Executive or a member of the Senior Leadership Team.
Invested in expertise in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, to ensure we are the best we can be with regards to EDI.
Continued our Cycle to Work incentive scheme.
Maintained our Refer a Friend incentive scheme.

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Going Concern Assessment

The Board of Trustees monitor the viability of the Charity through the Finance & Development Committee.

With a budget forecast for the financial year ahead presenting a small surplus and the early indications of the 2021/22 financial year supporting that position the Board continues to adopt the going concern basis in preparing its accounts and financial statements.

With the majority, 98%, of the charity’s income from local authority contracts there is a good level of security in the continuation of service provision. Targeted efforts on aged debt management and the introduction of a new accounts payable system will support the predicted stable cash flow for at least the 12 months ahead.

Furthermore the charity’s reserve policy is solid with sufficient cash funds and buildings of approximately £1.4 million (Cressingham Road) if required.

Kate Allen

It has assessed the charity’s financial position, net assets and opportunities for growth and development, as well as its strategy and the potential impact of risks and uncertainties. Based on this the Board is confident that the charity has the resources to carry on operating for the foreseeable future.

CEO

Robert Dean

Finance Manager

13 August 2021

“ In 1994 I developed Autism at Kingwood from the private home of my late autistic son, Giles. Compared with his previous 11 years on a locked ward of a psychiatric hospital, supported living allowed him to make his own choices about his life. He was happy with Kingwood.

Over a thousand autistic adults (without any mental health condition) currently remain inappropriately hospitalised. Kingwood is a leader in helping to support them, one by one, into the community. I could not be more proud of their perseverance where so many others fail. The charity has well earned its reputation for creative solutions to complex situations.”

Dame Stephanie Shirley CH Founder Patron

Board of Trustees and Their Interests

Lisa Basford

John Finney

John has been our Chair since January 2021, and was appointed Chair elect in August 2020. John is CEO and Founder of one of the fastest growing satellite companies in the UK, based in Reading. He has held executive roles in the telecommunications and satellite industry. John’s youngest son is diagnosed with autism.

Lisa runs Good Endeavours, a consultancy supporting businesses and charities to deliver social impact. Previously, she held senior Corporate Social Responsibility roles for global corporations. Lisa is a Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability and sits on the Steering Committee of the Gender Equality Collective. Lisa has a son and a daughter who has ASD.

Sandra Meadows

(Interim Chair from July 2019)

Steve Bastiman-Davies

Director of Saxonbury Limited specialising in top level recruitment and assessment of top team capabilities.

(Joined October 2019) Steve helped found a global leadership and mentoring firm and has over 20 years’ experience in guiding organisations, including the NHS, police and local government through change and improvement.

David Swann

(Treasurer)

Formerly treasurer of BAT plc, Past President of the Association of Corporate Treasurers and sits on the board of a regional housing association.

Dr Steven Carnaby

Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Service Development Consultant with over 25 years’ experience working with people with learning disabilities and/ or autism spectrum conditions. In addition to independent consultancy Dr Carnaby has an honorary post at the Tizard Centre.

Rebecca Vickers

Solicitor, formerly Group Company Secretary at First Choice Holidays PLC. Rebecca is a member of the Board of Governors at St Joseph’s Specialist School and College in Cranleigh.

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

The Trustees, who are also directors of Autism at Kingwood for the purposes of company law, are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

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 Charity 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 Charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

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 Trust and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that year.

In so far as the Trustees are aware:

Public Benefit

The Trustees have referred to the guidance by the Charity Commission when establishing the strategic objectives and Business Plan. All our charitable activities are centred around meeting the needs of autistic people and this report has provided an overview of just some of the ways people have benefited from the services we have provided.

Financial Statements

The financial statements

comply with the Charities Act 2011, The Companies Act 2006, The memorandum and Articles of Association, and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102) (effective 1 January 2019).

• there is no relevant audit In preparing these financial information of which the statements, the Trustees are charitable company’s required to: auditors are unaware, and

select suitable accounting • the Trustees have taken policies and then apply all steps that they ought them consistently; to have taken to make themselves aware of any
• observe the methods and relevant audit information principles in the Charities and to establish that the SORP; auditors are aware of that information.

• make judgments and estimates that are The Trustees are responsible reasonable and prudent; for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and • state whether applicable financial information included UK Accounting Standards on the charitable company’s have been followed, subject website. Legislation in the to any material departures United Kingdom governing the disclosed and explained in preparation and dissemination the financial statements, of financial statements may and differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

prepare the financial statements on the going

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Statement as to Disclosure to our Auditors

In so far as the Trustees are aware at the time of approving our Trustees report:

• there is no relevant information, being information needed by the auditor in connection with preparing their report, of which the company’s auditor is unaware, and

each Trustee has taken all the steps that he ought to have taken as a Director, in order to make himself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the company’s auditors are aware of that information.

Auditors

The auditors, Edwin Smith, are deemed reappointed under section 487(2) of the Companies Act 2006.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice – Accounting and Reporting by Charities (FRS102) and in accordance with the special provisions relating to small companies within Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006.

On behalf of the Board of Trustees.

John Finney

Chair

23 September 2021

Independent Auditors Report As at 31 March 2021

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Autism at Kingwood (the “Charity”) 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 (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

give a true and fair view of the state of the charity’s affairs as at 31 March 2021 and of 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 accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the Charity 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 trustee 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 charity’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least 12 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 sections of this report.

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Independent Auditors Report (continued) As at 31 March 2021

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the Charity and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees’ Annual Report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities Act 2011 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;
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns;
we have not obtained all the information and explanations necessary for the purposes of our audit;
the directors were not entitled to take advantage of the small companies exemption from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.

Responsibilities of the Trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement (set out on page 28), the trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as they 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 Charity’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 Charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

The trustees have elected for the financial statements to be audited in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 rather than the Companies Act 2006. Accordingly, we have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with the regulations made under section 154 of the Act.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws 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 is detailed below.

Independent Auditors Report (continued) As at 31 March 2021

of fraud or suspected fraud identified during the audit. However, the primary responsibility for the prevention and detection of fraud rests with both management and those charged with governance of the company.

Our approach was as follows:

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory requirements applicable to the Charity and considered that the most significant are the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011, UK financial reporting standards as issued by the Financial Reporting Council and UK taxation legislation.
We obtained an understanding of how the Charity complies with these requirements by making enquiries with management and those charged with governance. We corroborated our enquiries through our review of the Trustees’ meeting minutes.
We assessed the susceptibility of the financial statements to material misstatement, including how fraud might occur by considering the key risks impacting the financial statements and documenting the controls that the Charity has established to address risks identified, or that otherwise seek to prevent, deter or detect fraud. In our assessment we considered the risk of management override. Our audit procedures included testing manual journals, including segregation of duties.
We inquired of management and those charged with governance as to any known instances of non-compliance or suspected non-compliance with laws and regulations.
Based on this understanding, we designed specific appropriate audit procedures to identify instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. This included making enquiries of management and those charged with governance and obtaining additional corroborative evidence as required.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilites. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the Charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and the regulations made under section 154 of that Act. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the Charity’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Edwin Smith Chartered Accountants Statutory Auditor 32 Queens Road Reading RG1 4AU

22 October 2021

Explanation as to what extent the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

Edwin Smith is eligible to act as auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

The objectives of our audit in respect of fraud, are to identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements due to fraud; to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the assessed risks of material misstatement due to fraud, through designing and implementing appropriate responses to those assessed risks; and to respond appropriately to instances

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Statement of Financial Activities

As at 31 March 2021

Unrestricted Designated Restricted Total Funds Funds Funds Funds 2021 Notes £ £ £ £ Income: Donations 2 13,228 - 63,312 76,540 Investment Income 3 1,513 - -- 1,513 14,741 63,312 78,053 Income from charitable activities 4 7,951,875 - - 7,951,875 Other income 5 215,135 - - 215,135 Total income 8,181,751 - 63,312 8,245,063 Expenditure: 6 Costs of raising funds Donations - 8,709 - 8,709 Charitable activities Domiciliary, residential care and welfare costs 7,236,757 - - 7,236,757 Support costs and charitable projects 709,091 34,902 16,184 760,177 Total expenditure 7,945,848 43,611 16,184 8,005,643 Net income/(expenditure) before transfers 235,903 (43,611) 47,128 239,420 Transfers between funds 16 37,808 - (37,808) - Net income/(expenditure) for the year/ Net movement in funds 273,711 (43,611) 9,320 239,420 Fund balances at 1 April 2020 1,470,181 122,189 265,116 1,857,486 Fund balances at 31 March 2021 1,743,892 78,578 274,436 2,096,906	Total Funds 2020 £ 39,016 4,384
	43,400 7,571,233 4,350
	7,618,983
	25,811 7,006,479 718,204
	7,750,494
	(131,511) -
	(131,511) 1,988,997
	1,857,486

The statement of financial activities complies with the requirements for an income and expenditure account under the Companies Act 2006 and includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

Balance Sheet

As at 31 March 2021

Notes Fixed assets Tangible assets 9 Current assets Debtors 10 Cash at bank and in hand Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year 11 Net current assets/(liabilities) Creditors: Amounts falling due after one year 11 Total assets less current liabilities Income funds of the charity Restricted funds 14 Unrestricted funds: Designated funds 15 Other charitable funds	£ 669,129 1,051,523 1,720,652 (648,405)	2021 £ 1,224,659 1,072,247 (200,000) 2,096,906 274,436 78,578 1,743,892 2,096,906	£ 835,718 605,496 1,441,214 (822,956)	2020 £ 1,239,228 618,258 -
				1,857,486
				265,116 122,189 1,470,181
				1,857,486

The company is entitled to the exemption from the audit requirement contained in section 477 of the Companies Act 2006, for the year ended 31 March 2021, although an audit has been carried out under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011. No member of the company has deposited a notice, pursuant to section 476 requiring an audit of these accounts under the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for ensuring that the company keeps accounting records which comply with section 386 of the Act and for preparing accounts which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company as at the end of financial year and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the financial year in accordance with the requirements of sections 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to accounts, so far as applicable to the company.

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions relating to small companies within part 15 of the Companies Act 2006.

The accounts were approved by the Board on 22 September 2021.

Trustee D. Swann (Treasurer)

Company Registration No. 02980543

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Statement of Cash Flows

As at 31 March 2021

Notes Cash flows from operating activities: Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities Cash flows from investing activities: Interest from investments Proceeds from the sale of property, plant and equipment Purchase of tangible fixed assets Net cash provided by investing activities Cash flows from financing activities: Repayments of borrowing Cash inflows from new borrowing Cash used in financing activities Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year Cash and equivalents at the beginning of the year Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year Reconciliation of net income/(expenditure) to cash flow from operating activities Net income/expenditure for the year (as per the statement of financial activities) Adjustments for: Depreciation charges Interest and from investments Loss/profit on the sale of fixed assets (Increase) / decrease in debtors Increase / (decrease) in creditors Net cash provided from (used in) operating activities Analysis of cash and equivalents Cash in hand 17 Total	2021 £ 246,873 1,513 - (52,359) 196,027 - 250,000 250,000 446,027 605,496 1,051,523 239,420 66,927 (1,513) - 166,590 (224,550) 246,873 1,051,523 1,051,523	2020 £ 77,145 4,384 - (39,258)
		42,271
		- -
		-
		42,271 563,225
		605,496
		(131,511) 67,894 (4,384) - (119,362) 264,508
		77,145
		605,496
		605,496

Notes to the Financial Statements

As at 31 March 2021

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable to the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective January 2019) – (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

Autism at Kingwood meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note(s).

Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis

There are no material uncertainties about the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern.

There are no significant areas of judgment or key estimates that affect items in the financial statements other than those described in the accounting policies below.

Fund Accounting

General funds are unrestricted funds, available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes.

Restricted funds are subjected to restrictions on their expenditure imposed by the donor or which have been raised by the charity for particular purposes. The aim and use of each restricted fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds set aside for specific purposes at the discretion of the Trustees.

Income

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the item(s) of income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received, and the amount can be measured reliably.

Income from donations or grants is recognised when there is evidence that there is entitlement to the gift, receipt is probable, and its amount can be measured reliably. Gifts in kind are taken into account on a prudent assessment of their fair value. Government grants are recognised immediately in income except for CJRS grants which are recognised in income in the period to which they become receivable.

All other income (including income received under deeds of covenant) is recognised on a receivable basis. All

income is related to the continuing activities of the charity.

Deferred income comprises domiciliary, residential care and welfare income which relates to future accounting periods.

Expenditure

Resources expended are recognised in the period in which they are incurred. Resources expended include attributable VAT which cannot be recovered.

Expenses are allocated to activities in the Statement of Financial Activities where the expenses relate directly to those activities. Support costs constitute the costs of supporting the other activities of the company and include the staff costs of the central administrative staff.

Governance costs are the costs incurred in maintaining the company as a separate legal entity. This includes the cost of servicing trustee’s meetings.

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

As at 31 March 2021

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

Tangible Fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets other than freehold land are stated at costs less depreciation. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost less estimated residual value of each asset over its expected useful life, as follows:

Freehold land is not depreciated Freehold buildings 50 years straight line Freehold improvements 10 years straight line Leasehold improvements over period of the lease Equipment and motor vehicles 3 years straight line Holiday home 10 years straight line

Tangible fixed assets costing in excess of £300 are capitalised.

The carrying values of tangible fixed assets are reviewed for impairment periodically if events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying values may not be recoverable.

Leasing and hire purchase commitments

Rentals payable under operating leases are charged in the Statement of Financial Activities on a straight line basis over the lease term.

Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments held on deposit accounts.

Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a 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.

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

As at 31 March 2021

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

Financial instruments

The trust 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 amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Pensions

Autism at Kingwood operates a defined contribution scheme under auto enrolment regulations for its employees. Contributions payable to the scheme are charged to the statement of financial activities in the period to which they relate. The assets of the scheme are held separately from the Charity in an independently administered fund.

Autism at Kingwood also operates a group personal pension scheme which is a defined contribution scheme. All contributions are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities as incurred.

2. DONATIONS

2. DONATIONS
Donations and gifts 3. INVESTMENT INCOME Interest receivable 4. INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES Domiciliary, residential care and welfare 5. OTHER INCOME Other income	Unrestricted Restricted £ £ 13,228 63,312	Total Funds 2021 £ 76,540 2021 £ 1,513 2021 £ 7,951,875 2021 £ 215,135	Total Funds 2020 £ 39,016 2020 £ 4,384 2020 £ 7,571,233 2020 £ 4,350

Other income includes payments of £163,639 for Covid support in the year ended 31 March 2021 principally from councils of the people we support.

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued) As at 31 March 2021

6. EXPENDITURE

Costs of raising funds Costs of generating donations and legacies Charitable activities Domiciliary, residential care and welfare costs Activities undertaken directly Support costs and charitable projects Costs of supporting the direct activities and projects Governance costs	Staff Depreciation Other Total costs and costs 2021 impairment £ £ £ £ - - 8,709 8,709 6,841,260 66,927 328,569 7,236,756 314,904 - 418,660 733,564 18,859 - 7,754 26,613 7,175,023 66,927 754,983 7,996,933 7,175023 66,927 763,692 8,005,642	Total 2020 £ 25,811
		7,006,479 682,599 35,605
		7,724,683
		7,750,494

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

As at 31 March 2021

8. EMPLOYEES

Number of employees

The average monthly number of employees during the year was:

Domiciliary, residential care and welfare Administrative staff Employment Costs Wages and salaries Social security costs Other pension costs	2021 Number 244 23 267 2021 £ 6,578,791 418,118 99,010 7,095,919	2020 Number 256 21
		277
		2020 £ 6,368,451 395,832 96,627
		6,860,910

Wages and salaries includes agency welfare costs of £1,285,977 for (2020: £1,321,218) and agency support costs £153,399 (2020: £183,655).

Governance costs includes payments to the auditors of £6,720 (2020: £6,720) for audit fees and £nil (2020: £1,200) for non-audit services, and £755 (2020: £4,356) for meeting expenses between Trustees, staff, parents and families of those supported.

Included within support costs and charitable projects is expenditure on designated fund projects of £34,902 (2020: £80,000), expenditure on restricted fund projects of £16,184: £17,043) and rental of premises, including associated premises costs, of £119,336 (2020: £125,349).

The number of employees whose annual emoluments were £60,000 or more:

		2021	2020
		Number	Number
£90,001	- £100,000	1	1
£60,001	- £70,000	1	1

7. TRUSTEES AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

During the year, no Trustees (2020: two) were reimbursed for travelling and other reimbursable expenses (2020: £1,217).

The Trustee Dr. S. Carnaby was paid £900 (2020: £1,510) in respect of mentoring services for an employee of the charity which the other Trustees consider reasonable for the services provided and in the best interests of the charity.

The trustees were not paid and did not receive any benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2020: £nil). One trustee received payment for services and together with reimbursed expenses paid to trustees are detailed in note 7.

The key management personnel of the charity comprise the trustees, the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Office and Head of HR. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the Trust were £312,882 (2020: £293,158).

There were no other payments made to trustees during the year or related party transactions.

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued) As at 31 March 2021

9. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

Cost At 1 April 2020 Additions Disposals At 31 March 2021 Depreciation At 1 April 2020 On disposals Charge for the year Impairment At 31 March 2021 Net book value At 31 March 2021 At 31 March 2020	Freehold Freehold Leasehold Equipment Holiday Total property improvements improvements and motor Home vehicles £ £ £ £ £ £ 1,789,185 49,531 85,769 345,026 - 2,269,511 - 3,222 - 11,329 37,808 52,359 - - - (23,702) - (23,702)
	1,789,185 52,753 85,769 332,653 37,808 2,298,168
	640,716 39,667 61,073 288,827 - 1,030,283 - - - (23,702) - (23,702) 22,400 2,622 7,693 34,213 - 66,928 - - - - -
	663,116 42,289 67,766 299,338 1,073,509
	1,126,069 10,464 17,003 33,315 37,808 1,224,659
	1,148,469 9,864 24,695 56,199 - 1,239,227

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

As at 31 March 2021

11. CREDITORS

Amounts falling due within one year

Bank loan Trade creditors Taxes and social security costs Other creditors Accruals Deferred income	2021 £ 50,000 26,831 106,781 62,027 338,512 64,255 648,405	2020 £ - 252,692 108,701 15,201 168,889 277,473
		822,956

Deferred Income – The amount of deferred income brought forward at 1 April 2020 released to income earned from charitable activities amounts to £190,733 (2020: £193,714).

Amounts falling due after one year

	2021	2020
	£	£
Bank loan	200,000	-

Bank loan due over five years (repayable by instalments) at 31 March 2021 is £27,323 (2020: nil).

12. PENSION COSTS

In 2013 an impairment review was carried out on the Property 45, Cressingham Road valued at £1,300,000 and an impairment loss was incurred of £392,401 which is included in accumulated freehold property depreciation. A further review was carried out this year and no change was considered necessary.

10.DEBTORS

Trade debtors Other debtors Prepayments and accrued income	2021 £ 386,343 2,782 280,004 669,129	2020 £ 574,787 1,788 259,143
		835,718

Defined Contribution

	2021	2020
	£	£
Contributions payable for the year	99,010	96,627

13. SHARE CAPITAL

Autism at Kingwood, a registered charity, is a company limited by guarantee, not having any share capital. In the event of a winding up, each member may be required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 towards the settlement of the company’s liabilities.

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued) As at 31 March 2021

14. RESTRICTED FUNDS

The income funds of the charity include restricted funds comprising the following unexpended balances of donations and grants held on trust for specific purposes:

Movement in funds

2021

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

As at 31 March 2021

14. RESTRICTED FUNDS (CONTINUED)

Kennel Club for Dogs

Grant received in year as part of three year grant from The Kennel Club Charitable Trust to fund the project for animal assisted intervention for autistic adults.

Holiday Home

Transition Service Sensory rooms Kennel Club for Dogs Gardening Coordinator Holiday Home Other *2020* Property fund Transition Service Sensory rooms Kennel Club for Dogs Gardening Coordinator Other	Balance at Income Expenditure Transfers Balance at 1 April 31 March 2020 2021 £ £ £ £ £ 238,267 - (5,480) - 232,787 - 500 - - 500 9,036 9,300 (9,082) - 9,254 14,000 14,000 - - 28,000 1,648 39,337 (214) (37,808) 2,963 2,165 175 (1,408) - 932
	265,116 63,312 (16,184) (37,808) 274,436
	*Balance at* *Income* *Expenditure* *Transfers Balance at* *1 April* *31 March* *2019* *2020* £ £ £ £ £ - - - - - *243,810* - (5,543) - *238,267* *11,000* - (11,000) - 0 - 9,036 - - *9,036* - 14,000 - - *14,000* *500* 3,813 (500) *3,813* *Movement in funds*
	*255,310* 26,849 (17,043) - *265,116*

A Holiday Home to provide an opportunity for the PWS to have some fun in a lovely rural location in Oxfordshire. The home has been capitalised at the year end and now forms part of Fixed Assets. Donations of £1,648 received last year for Holiday Home were included in Other restricted fund balance last year of £3,813.

15. DESIGNATED FUNDS

Movement in funds

2021

Development fund *2019* Development fund	Balance at Incoming Resources Transfer Balance at 1 April resources expended between 31 March 2020 funds 2021 £ £ £ £ £ 122,189 - (43,611) - 78,578
	122,189 - (43,611) - 78,578
	*Balance at* *Incoming* *Resources* *Transfer Balance at* *1 April* *resources* *expended* *between* *31 March* *2020* *funds* *2021* £ £ £ £ £ *228,000* - (105,811) - *122,189* *Movement in funds*
	*228,000* - (105,811) - *122,189*

Development fund

Funds set aside by the Trustees for projects including strengthening autism experience, identifying and undertaking research and accessing activities in the community.

Transition Service

The Transition Service is now providing life skills training and educational programs to a small group of people aged between 18-25.

Resources expended relates to depreciation of Transition Service property. The balance will be reduced as property is depreciated.

Sensory rooms

A donation was received during the year to provide sensory equipment.

Gardening Coordinator

Funding received to include grant from the Sobell Foundation as part of a three year grant to employ a gardening coordinator who will work with PWS at Henley Allotments.

Autism at Kingwood Annual Report And Accounts 2020-21

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued) As at 31 March 2021

16. ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS

Fund balances at 31 March 2021 are represented by:

Tangible fixed assets Current assets Creditors 17. ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN NET DEBT Cash Loans falling due within one year Loans falling due after more than one year Total	Unrestricted Designated Restricted funds funds funds £ £ £ 991,872 - 232,787 1,600,425 78,578 41,649 (848,405) - -	Total £ 1,224,659 1,720,652 (848,405) 2,096,906 Balance at 31 March 2021 £ 1,051,523 (50,000) (200,000) 801,253
	1,743,892 78,578 274,436
	Balance at Cash-flows 1 April 2020 £ £ 605,496 446,027 - (50,000) - (200,000) 605,496 196,027

18. COMMITMENTS UNDER OPERATING LEASES

At 31 March 2021 the company had a total of future minimum lease payments under non–cancellable operating leases for each of the following periods:

Expiry date: Not later than one year Later than one year and not later than five years Later than five years	2021 2020 £ £ 85,957 97,507 85,589 159,689 - - 171,546 257,196 Land and buildings	2021 2020 £ £ 85,957 97,507 85,589 159,689 - - 171,546 257,196 Land and buildings
		257,196

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Autism at Kingwood 2 Chalfont Court Chalfont Close Lower Earley Reading RG6 5SY

0118 931 0143 info@kingwood.org.uk www.kingwood.org.uk

Chief Executive – Kate Allen Chief Operating Officer – Estelle Christmas

Autism at Kingwood is a UK registered charity, managed by a highly skilled Senior Leadership Team and led by a Board of Trustees

Charity No.1041924 Autism at Kingwood is a company limited by guarantee. Registered in England No. 2980543