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2023-05-31-accounts

Community Counselling Accounts for the year ended 31st May 2023

Community Counselling Index Accounts for the Year to 31st May 2023

Community Counselling Trustees Report Year to 31st May 2023

Reference And Administration Details

The name of the charity is: Community Counselling.

Charity registration number is: 1049519

The address of the charity is: St. Bartholomews Church & Centre, 292b Barking Road, London, E6 3BA

The Trustees who served during the year are:

Served during the year

Damian Castello (chairperson) Susan Kelly (vice chair) Lova Rajaonarimanana (treasurer) Rosemary Margaret Williams (secretary) Sharon Patricia Anderson Vincent Foxcroft Anja Frykegard Clare Hawes Sally Jane Higgs Jennie O'Connor Rachel Remedios Michelle Roddy Maria Spyrou

The Trustees have had regard to Charity Commission guidance on public benefit.

Aims and Objects

Community Counselling has been working in the London Borough of Newham for over 30 years. We provide one-to-one counselling for anyone in East London who is suffering from psychological distress that threatens their mental and emotional health and wellbeing, such as depression, anxiety, feelings of loneliness and isolation, bereavement, childhood trauma and low self-esteem. We are an independent voluntary organisation and are able to offer low-cost medium and long-term counselling, sometimes supporting clients over several years. We do not receive any public funding and our counsellors offer their time without charging. In the current year we have 24 counsellors working with us and currently see 80 clients a week.

Structure

We are a collective of qualified counsellors and counsellors in training who volunteer our services parttime. We are an organisational member of the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) and work within their guidelines for good practice.

Our structure is defined by the Constitution which was adopted on 13[th] February 2016. The quarterly meeting is our main decision-making body, supported by smaller Clinical Issues and Service Delivery groups. Our trustees are elected at our Annual General Meeting from our body of counsellors, who are given a detailed induction and introduction to our policies and procedures at their initial supervision session. We have a team of four qualified supervisors who provide monthly low-cost supervision. All our counsellors are further supported by monthly peer supervision groups and, when possible, by free quarterly continuing professional development workshops.

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Community Counselling Trustees Report (continued) Year to 31st May 2023

Activities, achievements and performance

In the year 2022/23 we assessed 90 clients and on average our team of 24 counsellors was seeing 70 clients per week. We continue to work remotely, either by Zoom or by telephone, or in person at St Bart’s in East Ham, according to the preference of counsellors and clients. Five student counsellors completed their placements with us and qualified and of these, two moved on to work elsewhere. We are grateful to those qualified counsellors who continue to volunteer with us. We were able to offer placements to four new counselling students.

Financial review and funds

Community Counselling continues to support clients who are unable to meet the cost of counselling charged by private practitioners. We have been able to keep our fees low (most clients pay £15 per session) and we aim to be able to support a few clients who are unable to pay at all. We were not in receipt of any funding this year. We continue to pay our experienced counsellors a token amount for some of their client work, since only a small number of clients are working face to face (currently 21 out of 70 clients) and there is not much rent payable for rooms. This has helped us to retain our experienced counsellors and support those counsellors who have also suffered financial hardship because of the pandemic.

The trustees have a policy to retain sufficient reserves to be able to fund activities for the year ahead. Reserves held at 31[st] May 2023 totalled £21,044.

Rosie Williams Secretary, Community Counselling 27th March 2024

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Community Counselling
Receipts and Payments Account
Year to 31st May 2023
Year to 31st May 2023 Year to 31st May 2022
£ £ £ £ £ £
Total Restricted Unrestricted Total Restricted Unrestricted
Receipts
Donations 35,781 35,781 28,939 28,939
Fundraising 0 0 1,000 1,000
Grant 0 0 3,920 3,920 0
Interest received 2 2
35,783 0 35,783 33,859 3,920 29,939
Payments
Rent 4,021 4,021 860 860
Professional body membership fee 240 240 216 216
Insurance 341 341 340 340
Accounting 830 830 420 420
Telephone 344 344 338 338
Printing, postage & stationery 0 0 0 0
Workshop expenses 0 0 0 0
Administrative cost 3,442 3,442 3,380 3,380
Supervision cost 6,780 6,780 9,395 3,920 5,475
Volunteer expenses 20,970 20,970 23,007 23,007
Gifts 0 0 60 60
36,967 0 36,967 38,016 3,920 34,096
Surplus/-Deficit for the year -1,185 0 -1,185 -4,157 0 -4,157
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Community Counselling
Statement of Assets and Liabilities
At 31st May 2023
2023 2022
£ £
Assets
Bank account balances 21,044 22,229
Net assets 21,044 22,229
Reserves
Unrestricted Funds
As at 1st June 2022 22,229 26,386
Surplus/-Deficit for year -1,185 -4,157
21,044 22,229
Restricted Funds (see note 2)
As at 1st June 2022 0 0
Surplus/-Deficit for year 0 0
0 0
Total reserves 21,044 22,229
----- End of picture text -----

Accounts approved by:

Rosie Williams (Secretary)

Date of approval 27th March 2024

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Community Counselling Notes to the accounts For the year to 31st May 2023

1 Accounting policies

These accounts are prepared on a receipts and payments (rather than accruals) basis.

The income and expenditure shown therefore reflects the cash/bank receipts and payments during the period.

2 Restricted funds

Reserves at 1st June 2022
Income
Expenditure
Reserves at 31st May 2023		 2023
0
0

3 Payments to trustees

During the year, some trustees were paid for services provided (at far below normal commercial rates) to the charity in respect of counselling, supervision and administrational work. There are now agreements in place between the charity and trustees who are paid for providing services and there have been changes to the board of trustees to ensure that the majority of trustees are not paid.

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Community Counselling Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Community Counselling For the year to 31st May 2023

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31st May 2023, which are set out on pages 1 to 5.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity's trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("the Act").

I report in respect of my examination of the charity's accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's report

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

R M Holland FCA BSc (Econ)

27th March 2024

Holland Harper LLP Chartered Accountants 26 High Street Battle East Sussex TN33 0EA

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