2020-12-31-accounts - Cambridge Joint Playschemes

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Report of the Chair of Trustees (Management Committee)

The Trustees present their Report and Accounts for the year ended 31[st] December 2020.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

The Charity is governed by a Constitution and is managed in accordance with the Constitution by the Trustees (members of the Management Committee).

The Charity is an unincorporated body.

The Trustees have the power to recruit and appoint new trustees. The Charity has a comprehensive induction pack and facilitates training opportunities for new trustees.

The Charity employs one paid permanent but part-time Activities Manager. For the Saturday morning activities and the Activity Days paid staff are employed on a sessional basis. The Charity also uses voluntary staff from time to time.

The Charity co-operates with other voluntary organizations and statutory bodies, particular those involved with the provision of services to children and young people with learning disabilities.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

The objective of Cambridge Joint Playschemes is to provide leisure activities for children and young people from 8 to 19 with disabilities, living within the City of Cambridge and South and East Cambridgeshire.

Since Easter 2012 the Charity has provided a year-round programme of Saturday morning activities. In addition, since 2015, the Charity has provided holiday programmes of activities for children and young people during the Half Term, Easter and Summer holidays whenever financially possible.

The Charity provides these facilities to children and young people living within a geographical area that includes Cambridge City, South Cambridgeshire and that part of East Cambridgeshire that includes the village of Burwell and villages to the south of Burwell. We also take Children from the border Villages of Essex and Suffolk when those Children are attending Cambridgeshire Special Schools.

Public Benefit

The Trustees are aware of the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the Charity’s aims and objectives and in the planning of future activities. All children and young people meeting the Charity’s criteria and living within the Charity’s defined catchment are eligible for equal access to the leisure activities irrespective of social background, ethnic origin and any other factors. Families can ‘self refer’ irrespective of whether they receive assistance from social care or other statutory support organisations. Children and young people with learning disabilities experience enjoyable activities, which they might not otherwise be able to access. The provision of transport enables children in isolated areas or without transport to attend the leisure activities. Families, including siblings, benefit from the respite time that the leisure activities provide.

Cambridge Joint Playschemes Registered Charity No 1045987 Report of the Chairman of Trustees for the Financial Year ending 31[st] December 2020

To enable as many children and young people as possible to attend, the fees that are charged to families and carers are kept at as low a level as possible and are reviewed on an annual basis. Parental Fees presently cover about 30% of the total costs of the various activities provided by the Charity; the fees charged are less than 50% of the average ‘out of school childcare’ daily fees in the Cambridge area. All children should be in receipt of benefits because of their disability; to ensure that all families

are aware of their entitlements we intend to circulate information about benefits for disabled children and sources of further help to all families on the Charity’s database.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Summary of Activities during 2020

The Charity continued with its range of Saturday morning activities during the first part of the year but due to COVID-19 were unable to provide any further community-based activities for 2020

As well as the Granta School days, other sessions included trampolining and indoor crazy golf. Average attendance was between 8 and 10 children and young people for each session, supported by an average of 8 staff plus a co-ordinator or Manager per session.

The Charity was not able to provide the Easter holiday programme of activities but we did offer online activities during the October Half Term and were able to continue with the two-week Summer Playscheme during August 2020, where we had an average of 20 children and young people. During the lockdown it was felt very important that our Activity Manager kept in touch with all our families to help with support through the difficult time when their children/young people had to stay at home. The Activity Weeks were a great success, with very positive feedback from parents and carers.

Trustees

We are very grateful for the continued support of our Trustees. During the year the Trustees were Wendy Little, David Knight, Vanessa Yeoman, Diana Ogunlana, Paula Nixon and David Jones. All Trustees make a valuable contribution to the running of CJP.

Thanks also go to Mel Stamford who co-ordinates our social media.

Staff

For the Saturday Activities programmes and the Holiday Activity Weeks, the Charity employs sufficient staff to meet the high levels of support required by the children and young people attending, so that the specific needs of all children and young people are provided for. The Charity management places great importance on providing high quality training opportunities and good working relationships with all of the staff and during 2020 when we were unable to continue with our activities our Activity Manager kept in constant touch with the staff.

One paid Play Scheme Manager was employed year-round on a permanent parttime contract. During 2020 the contracted hours of working were 14 hours per week, increasing to 40+ hours per week prior to and during the Summer Activity

Cambridge Joint Playschemes Registered Charity No 1045987 Report of the Chairman of Trustees for the Financial Year ending 31[st] December 2020

Club weeks where Carol Brown has to invest significant additional effort for which we thank her.

Policy Statements

The Charity maintains policies, procedures and codes of practice to meet the requirements of statutory bodies and current legislatory requirements, including carrying out DBS checks on all trustees, paid staff and volunteers.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

During 2020 the Charity was able to attract enough income during the year to meet the full costs of its planned expenditure programme including support and administration costs.

The Charity’s total expenditure during the year was £43,498 against income of £61,514 resulting in a surplus of £18,017 for the year to the 31[st] December 2020. This surplus was due to the fact that we couldn’t provide all of our usual activities during the year due to COVID-19. At the end of 2020 the Charity’s resources stood at just under £40,000. Of which £5,786 is regarded as the Charity’s designated ‘Contingency Reserve’.

Specific Grant Income was received for both the Saturday Activities programme and the holiday activities from BBC Children in Need, the National Lottery Peoples Project and Cambridge Community Foundation. The Charity also had the benefit of substantial donations which were received from the Cambridge Arts Theatre.

The Trustees acknowledge and are most grateful for the financial support provided by the various grant- making bodies (particularly Children in Need, The Lottery People’s Project, Cambridge Community Foundation and the Cambridge Arts Theatre) as well as donor organisations and individuals, and especially to those who planned and organised the specific fund-raising activities during the year.

PLANS FOR FUTURE PERIODS

Future Developments

The Charity recognises the urgent need to secure substantial longer-term financial support if it is to continue with its activities. Successful grant applications and other fund-raising initiatives in 2019, including Grants from BBC Children in Need for a 3-year period and Awards for All, did secure continuation of the Charity’s Saturday morning and Summer 2020 programmes as well as providing funding for weekend and holiday activities during 2020

The 3 year award from Children-in-Need has given us some future stability but the Trustees are fully aware of the need to raise further funding if the Charity is to continue its work, in particular, beyond 2020 and into 2021. We continue to support Wendy Little and Carol Brown in seeking to apply for additional funds from granting bodies and also thank them for the enormous effort they put into these Grant Applications. Their enthusiasm and commitment was instrumental in winning the 3 year Children In Need Grant award. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 we were not able to secure any further funding for 2021 but hope to be able to start fundraising again very soon.

Cambridge Joint Playschemes Registered Charity No 1045987 Report of the Chairman of Trustees for the Financial Year ending 31[st] December 2020

We had planned a full program of Saturday Clubs and Holiday clubs for 2020 but as you are all aware Covid-19 caused us to cease Saturday Clubs prior to Easter 2020 and for the Easter 2020 scheme to be cancelled. We did at least manage to hold a 2 weeks Summer Holiday Scheme which was appreciated by carers, parents and our users.

Risk Review

The major risks, to which the Charity is exposed, as identified by the Trustees, are regularly reviewed. Systems and procedures to mitigate such risks are established and procedures are put in place to minimise any potential impact on the Charity should any of those risks materialise. Public and Employer’s liabilities are adequately covered by Insurance and Trustee Indemnity Insurance provides cover for Trustees’ liabilities.

The Trustees continue to seek funding agreements, but it remains difficult to negotiate grant income to be able to plan ahead for longer than two years. Cutbacks in statutory funding levels, as well as continuing financial difficulties generally, continue to restrict the Charity’s ability to raise funds in the foreseeable future.

The Trustees continue to monitor the Charity’s banking arrangements to ensure that the Charity’s funds are not put at risk and that a reasonable rate of interest is earned on such funds.

The Charity is committed to continue to providing services for children and young people with severe learning disabilities, in particular with its programme of Saturday activities but also by an expansion of its holiday activity weeks. Charity management seek every opportunity to apply for grants and donations to meet the Charity’s planned projects and are very aware of the importance of adhering to and monitoring and reviewing agreed planned budgets on a regular basis.

Reserves Policy

The Trustees acknowledge the need to have adequate reserves to honour its commitments to permanent staff and other organisations in the event of closure and to have sufficient financial resources available to meet unexpected demands and delays in the receipt of expected income. For a number of years the Trustees have maintained two designated funds - a ‘Contingency Reserve’ and a ‘General Reserve’ for the balance of the Charity’s unrestricted funds at each year-end. The Reserves’ Policy is reviewed on a regular basis, and at least annually, to reflect the Charity’s planned income and expenditure programme.

Statement of the Trustees’ Responsibilities

The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards. The law applicable to charities in England and Wales 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 charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

 select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

Cambridge Joint Playschemes Registered Charity No 1045987 Report of the Chairman of Trustees for the Financial Year ending 31[st] December 2020

observe the methods and principles of the Charities SORP;
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and ;
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for keeping accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ascertain to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 1993 and the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. 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.

David JH Jones Chairman

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Cambridge Joint Playschemes st 31 December 2020 Committee%s Declaration We approve the financial statements set out OT] pages 2-5 disclosing 8 surplus of £18,017.17 in respect of the year ended 31" December 2020. We confirni that we have made all relevant records and inforniation for the purpose of preparing these financial statements. Wendy Little On behalf of the committee -2021 Accountant's Report I have prepared the financial statements on pages 2-5 for the year ended 31" December 2020 from the accounting records submitted to me. I certify that these financial statements are in accordance with the accounting records and in my opinion give a true and fair view of the Charitie's affairs as at 31 December 2020 Name CAFoL- S) Signature Dale . .2021