OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2021-03-31-accounts

‘’OFF THE RECORD’’ YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Charity Registration Number 1051144 Registered Company Number 2987817

AZETS AUDIT SERVICES Chartered Accountants Greytown House 221/227 High Street Orpington Kent BR6 0NZ

OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

CONTENTS

Page
Reference and Administrative Details 1
Report of the Management Committee 2
Statutory Auditors’ Report 19
Statement of Financial Activities 22
Balance Sheet 24
Statement of Cash Flows 25
Notes to the Financial Statements 26

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Management Committee Ohenewaa Adu-Akyeampong
Alice Barley
Alefiyah Bharmal
John Denham
Laura Haigh
Brij Kalia
Johnathan Keating
Patricia Nearn
Mark Penlington
Nic Shoults
Key Management Karen Stott – Chief Executive
Allie Cairnie
Mubin Choudhury
Emily Collinsbeare
Stephanie Hernandez
Geoff Jones
Lisa Malangone
Kirsti Rand
Roz Turner-Drage
Lalage Harries
Principal Address 72 Queens Road
Croydon
Surrey
CR0 2PR
Statutory Auditor Azets Audit Services
Greytown House
221/227 High Street
Orpington
Kent BR6 0NZ
Bankers Santander UK plc
BBAM
Bridle Road
Bootle
Merseyside
GIR 0AA
Virgin Money plc
Jubilee House
Gosforth
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE3 4PL
HSBC
9 Wellesley Road
Croydon
CR9 2AA

1

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

The Management Committee have pleasure in presenting their Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2021.

“Off the Record” Youth Counselling Croydon is a registered charity (Charity Number 1051144) and a company limited by guarantee (Company Number 2987817).

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the accounts and comply with the charity’s trust deed, the Charities Act 2011 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 published on 16 July 2014, updated for bulletin1&2.

STRATEGIC REPORT

OVERALL VISION

“Bringing an end to mental health misery for children and young people”

OBJECTIVES, ACTIVITIES, ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Off the Record’s legal objects are stated in our Memorandum and Articles of Association as:

These objects are met through the charity’s strategic aim – to provide a broad range of high quality, safe, accessible, fast and effective (SAFE) support services for children and young people. The objects are further supported through our strategic objectives:

Through 2020/21 the charity continued to deliver its established core activities and services - Counselling Services (including online counselling) in the London Boroughs of Croydon, Sutton and Merton; Outreach work (including our Black Minority Ethnic Community Development work); Refugee & Asylum Seeker Counselling Service and the Croydon Young Carers Service. We have also further expanded our delivery of mental health support services to young people in schools.

However, the way in which our services have been delivered in 2020/21 has been fundamentally impacted by the Covid pandemic. In March 2020, Off the Record closed its offices to face-to-face work with young people at the start of the first national lockdown. This was the first time that the charity has shut its doors for more than a few days in over a quarter of a century. As an NHS-funded community mental health resource for young people, we were very conscious of the need to continue to be accessible to those in emotional distress during the pandemic and therefore, after 2 weeks to reorganise, all services re-opened to young people through use of telephone, video and online work. We have not only continued supporting young people throughout the pandemic but have also created new and innovative online ways of engaging with young people, including the use of video and audio resources, challenges and competitions centred through the new ‘Coping with Covid-19' hub on our website. All staff have continued to work throughout the period and it’s a credit to their hard work that we have continued to reach young people in need. We re-opened to limited face-toface work in autumn 2020. As restrictions eased in spring 2021, all our buildings re-opened to young people but with fewer staff working on-site and with Covid precautions in place. We will also be continuing with many of the remote ways of reaching out to young people developed during Covid as we have seen the benefits these can bring to some young people in terms of increased accessibility.

Covid has brought significant challenges for young people in terms of disruption to education; family stress and bereavement; increased levels of isolation and anxiety. The mental health implications of these challenges will undoubtedly be evident for many years to come making it essential that Off the Record does all it can to reach out to young people in distress. After an initial drop in the number of new service users in the first Covid lockdown, numbers of new contacts rose substantially from autumn 2020 and have remained significantly above pre-lockdown levels ever since, creating additional challenges for the charity in meeting these increased demands. We are now looking at new models of working that can maintain an immediate mental health response to young people when they first make contact alongside a mixed offer of remote and in-person group and individual interventions.

2

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

The staff in our direct services work together with central charity staff such as our administrators and senior managers. In addition to the paid staff team, Off the Record has a strong history of engaging volunteers to support our activities. These include volunteer counsellors (usually those in the final stages of their counselling training) and activity and homework club volunteers within the Young Carers Project. In an average year these volunteers contribute approximately 60 hours per week to the charity bringing an estimated equivalent added value of £60,000 per year to the work. However, in 2020/21, the number of volunteers working with the charity has been severely limited due to changes in activities forced by the Covid pandemic and concerns about the challenges of adequately supporting volunteers in times of remote working. We hope that 2021/22 will see a return to more active engagement of volunteers.

Despite the temporary closure of buildings during lockdown periods, the charity has maintained all its existing office premises. We continue to operate from the freehold property at 72 Queens Road, Croydon, which the charity purchased in 1995 by means of a central grant of £138,672 from the South Thames Regional Health Authority. The Queens Road office serves as a base for the Croydon counselling service, the BAME Outreach & Community Development Service and Refugee Counselling service although in the last year much of the work has been delivered remotely rather than from the office. The Young Carers Service has maintained a base in rented offices in the Carers Support Centre in Central Croydon, whilst the Sutton counselling service operates from rented premises at 172 Croydon Road, Beddington and our Merton counselling service is based in rented rooms at Vestry Hall in Mitcham. As acknowledged above, all our buildings temporarily closed to face-to-work during the full national lockdowns but all have now re-opened, operating under Covid-secure guidelines to meet the needs of those young people who due to e.g. language, privacy or technology needs, feel unable to access remote provision. From summer 2021, we have been bringing increased numbers of staff back into our buildings and from September 2021 anticipate all staff working at least 50% of their hours in our offices with the remainder of their time worked remotely in order to prevent over-crowding of office spaces.

The Management Committee have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and our main activities are described below. All these activities are undertaken to further our charitable purposes for the public benefit in accordance with our aim to provide a broad range of SAFE services for children and young people. The overall strategy within which the charity operates is set by the Management Committee and the objectives and achievements of our activities are detailed in this report. The necessary funding, in the form of grants and contracts, is in place and the risks to the charity have been listed and reviewed by both the Management Committee and senior staff of the agency. The risk register now includes consideration of potential risks arising from the CovidCovid pandemic.

The Management Committee wish to express their appreciation for the hard work, undertaken by all staff within the agency, in delivering and developing the agency’s services to children and young people particularly in light of the recent unprecedented pressures arising from Covid-19. We are also very grateful to our local commissioners and external funders who have fully maintained their financial support for our work during this period.

The following reports have been written by the service leads for each of our services.

1. COUNSELLING SERVICES

a) CROYDON COUNSELLING SERVICE

Objectives and Activities

The Croydon Counselling Service is a free and confidential counselling service for young people aged 14-25 who either live, study, work or have a GP in the borough of Croydon. We believe that young people have a wealth of strengths, abilities and talents within them. We want to support them in realising and using these resources to meet life’s challenges.

The counselling service aims to offer up to 100 clinical assessments and ongoing appointments per week through a team of paid and volunteer clinical staff. Clinicians on training placement are professionally supervised and supported.

“(The counsellor) didn't make me feel like an idiot/judged for how I am feeling. Helped me understand how I feel, why, and how to help myself. Actively listened to me.”

In total, we had 500 new contacts from young people in the year April 2019 to March 2020 out of whom 489 were accepted for counselling. The service offered 3636 counselling sessions to 631 young people during the period.

“I liked the structure behind it. It's made it a lot easier and clearer to see my progress from start to finish. I feel like I really connected with my counsellor so I have been able to open up a lot more.”

3

OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Achievements and Performance

At the beginning of the period of this report, 1[st] April 2020, Off the Record was in a period of rapid transition alongside the rest of the country. All our client facing premises had been closed two weeks earlier because of the Covid pandemic, and over the following weeks converted swiftly to operating a remote service conducted largely by telephone, later also by video. This involved a great number of rapid changes, in terms of new practices and procedures, policies and training for staff, all conducted online.

After a slow start with a number of ongoing clients turning down the new offers of remote counselling, demand again started increasing. As we came into summer and the school holidays, the number of new clients contacting us increased to beyond the pre-pandemic demand.

Training for staff and volunteer counsellors during this year focussed initially on new ways of working remotely. This included telephone training and new guidelines as well as training to work through video connections. These modalities have much in common with face-to-face therapy, but there are also significant differences, both therapeutically and caused by the technology itself. New guidelines provided by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), specialist training and in-house expertise was used to up skill staff and volunteers. Towards the end of the year we also stated updating the whole team’s training in Safeguarding level 3, Data Protection, Mental Capacity Act and Prevent.

In total, we had 785 new contacts from young people between April 2020-March 2021, up from 500 the previous year, an increase of 57%. Of the new contacts, 745 were accepted for counselling. The service offered 4382 counselling sessions to 801 young people during the period, up from 631 young people in the previous year.

“ I feel you really listen to what I say and shift my perspective to be more conscious about what I do. You have given me tools to help myself and I can use them in my life in general”

Our staff team went through a number of transitions during this year. Initially it was the transition of working remotely and undertaking the necessary training for this. Staff also had to get used to a number of new online admin processes. As our waiting lists, particularly for assessments, grew towards the end of 2020, the core staff team moved to a whole new way of working short term with a number of clients, offering an assessment followed by three sessions where this could be appropriate. We reduced the general maximum number of sessions from 12 to 6, to be able to offer an intervention to more young people. Clients were introduced to the broader agency offers for additional support at assessment including a number of online supported and self-help options such as psycho-educational webinars, support groups and physical health options as well as a Saturday helpline staffed by trained counsellors.

During this time, we have offered some social meetings in addition to our more formal team meetings. This has been an acknowledgement that the social interactions and more casual discussion of work related issues that happens in a team/office context have been missing, and these additional half an hour forums can used for whatever arises, personally or work related.

“Was able to talk comfortably about issues that are personal and was able to feel a lot better about myself at the end of the sessions”

Across the year around 23% (31% last year) of our clients were male and 74% (66% last year) female, which is an unusually low percentage of male clients. In recent years, male clients have usually comprised over 30 per cent of the client population. Twelve clients described themselves as non-binary, which is up from three clients in the previous year.

The ages of young people accessing counselling is split approximately 40% aged 14-17 and 60% aged 18-25. In recent months we have seen the referrals from our partnership within the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) rise very significantly, showing the pressure the pandemic has brought on young people’s mental health services. This year we saw 57% of clients registering as other than White British, which is slightly down from the 61% of the previous year. This may be due to the different way clients are being registered remotely as ethnicity information was not available for 11% of clients.

(What was really good about your care?) “All of it - the pacing of it, I was listened to and the place the person who listened to me came from was one of expertise and I am seeing the positive results

The main issues brought to counselling continue to be Anxiety (261 clients), Family Issues (178), Self Esteem (155), Depression (152) and interpersonal/relationship (119). There is also a high incidence of issues related to intrusive thoughts (96 clients) and suicidal ideation (92 clients). Other frequently brought issues were trauma (82 clients) and abuse of the young person (65 clients). [Note: young people usually present with more than one issue].

4

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Although anxiety and interpersonal relationships usually feature as one of young people’s most frequently presented issues, these statistics also reflect the effects of the pandemic, with families living in closer proximity to each other, often with reduced incomes and sometimes with the strain of additional health issues caused by Covid. We have also met a significant number of young people who have felt too anxious to go out because of infection risk even as the country was opening up.

“My counsellor is always talking to me. I feel like she is the only one who understands me.”

Although the pandemic has put some considerable pressure upon our staff and volunteers and our systems, there have been positives too. As we move forward, as a service and as a charity, we will now be able to offer clients a much larger ‘menu’ of choices. Telephone and video counselling will continue to be available for clients who prefer or are suitable for these interventions, while we will also be back to offering face to face interventions when required. New skills and substantial experience in remote modalities have been acquired by staff and volunteers. The long spoken about paperless office has more or less become a reality. I want to thank all the staff and volunteers in our team for their forbearance, flexibility and hard work during this challenging time. You are all stars!

Mental Health in Schools Team – as part of the national mental health in schools' initiative, and in partnership with Croydon Drop In and SWL CCG, Off the Record has continued to co-host a Mental Health Support Team (MHST). Our Education Wellbeing Practitioners (EWPs) have now successfully completed their training and have been joined by qualified practitioners working to provide targeted and universal mental health support within a cluster of Croydon schools. Delivery of interventions with children, young people and families, alongside school staff, has continued to be a blended approach of online support and working directly in schools where possible.

b) SUTTON COUNSELLING SERVICE

Objectives and Activities

Off the Record’s Sutton counselling service has been providing free, confidential one-to-one counselling support to young people aged 11-25 in Sutton since May 2013. Since October 2016, the service has been located at Off The Record’s offices in Beddington.

We currently have two referral routes: through the Sutton CAMHS Single Point of Access (for ages 11-17) as part of Sutton Alliance contract delivered in partnership with South West London and St George’s Mental Health Trust and Jigsaw4u; and through self-referrals (for ages 14+) funded through Sutton CCG. We previously held a weekly Drop-In service, which operated for three hours on Tuesday afternoons and provided access to immediate support without the need for an appointment. When the buildings closed due to Covid in March 2020 this face-to-face Drop-In service was replaced by the Saturday Support telephone service and the Monday online Drop-In service. The Saturday Support Service is still in operation and we continue to signpost young people for immediate support while they wait for individual counselling, if they need extra support during counselling or when a counsellor is on leave, or if they need a ‘top-up’ once counselling has finished.

As part of our Sutton Alliance contract we also offer support to parents and carers of young people who are struggling with self-harm in the form of a two-part workshop. This is completely separate from the work we do with young people, whose confidentiality is assured.

Achievements and Performance

This year saw us successfully move from a predominantly paper-based service to a fully electronic one when Covid forced building closures towards the end of March 2020. With the exception of a couple of weeks for us to get our systems in place and staff trained in remote working, we continued to support clients throughout the lockdowns of this year, offering support remotely via telephone or Zoom and, when restrictions allowed, through a limited face-to-face offer reserved as a priority for high risk or complex cases, or for young people for whom working remotely was too difficult or dangerous.

During this year there were 438 young people who received support in the Sutton Service. 424 young people received ongoing counselling, a 19.5% increase on last year’s figure. Access via the self-referral pathway has increased, by 1% on last year’s figure, to 50%.

We offered 2,708 ongoing counselling sessions (up 14.5% on last year’s figure), 208 pre-therapy sessions; and 179 assessments. We had good rates of ongoing counselling engagement, with 91% of young people reaching a planned ending and an 85% session attendance rate.

5

OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Of the young people who accessed ongoing counselling, 60% presented with anxiety issues; 42.5% with depression symptoms; 42% with family issues; 41% with self-esteem issues; 38.5% with school issues; and 37% with interpersonal relationship issues. Other issues presented include: peer relationships (36%); intrusive thoughts (26%); sleep problems (25%); childhood (24%); anger (21%); and bullying (21%). The service works with a number of young people who present with self-harm (19.5%) and suicidal ideation (19.5%).

Feedback from young people who accessed the service indicated that they felt listened to and respected, that the support was of benefit, and many were grateful for the provision, particularly during the pandemic:

Our parent/carer self-harm workshops offer a supportive space for parents/carers where they can develop their understanding of self-harm; explore why young people might hurt themselves; discuss common myths and misconceptions about self-harm; and look at coping strategies and ways to support. Previously these groups were run in person but we took them onto our online platform due to Covid. Online, parents still report that these workshops help them feel more confident to support their young person with self-harm through increasing their understanding and providing them with resources to support their child. And while they still value the space to ‘chat’ with and ‘hear’ the experiences of others in a similar situation via the chat box function, we hope to soon be able to offer in person groups again to deepen this part of the experience.

c) MERTON COUNSELLING SERVICE

Objectives and Activities

Off the Record’s Merton Counselling Service launched an expanded service in April 2019 building on the small pilot service which ran over the preceding two years. The service is open to young people between the ages of 11 and 25 who live in the London borough of Merton, are registered with a Merton GP or attend a Merton school. Young people may access support by referring themselves or being referred by a professional (e.g. GP, social worker, teacher), in addition to a referral route through Merton CAMHS SPA.

The service is funded through Merton CCG for young people aged 11-18 and by the Wimbledon Foundation for young people aged 18 to 25. The service provides a safe space where young people can receive support and encouragement to deal with whatever challenges or difficulties they are facing.

The Merton service operates out of Vestry Hall, a local authority owned building, in the east of the borough. Counselling and emotional support sessions are also offered at The Nelson Medical Practice and within several local secondary schools in the borough. During the Covid pandemic, due to restrictions, the majority of sessions have been offered via telephone and video call where it has not been possible to work in-person with young people.

6

OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Since the launch of the Merton service in April 2019, in addition to offering counselling and wellbeing sessions, OTR Merton have engaged with community events and forums, building positive working relationships. Due to the pandemic, many of these relationships have been more challenging however wherever possible we have worked closely online with both community organisations, LA, CCG and schools.

During 2020-21 there were some changes and at the end of the year the service was operating with a full complement of staff (8 qualified counsellors, an outreach/schools worker and an administrator). OTR Merton work closely with Off The Record’s Online Counselling Service and Community Workers to provide a comprehensive range of counselling, wellbeing and outreach support, as well as workshops for the parents and carers of young people struggling with selfharm.

During 2020-21 face-to-face services were delivered Covid-allowing, however, these were at times severely limited due lockdown restrictions and the majority of counselling has been delivered via video and telephone over this year. Higher levels of need and referrals have been received this year attributable to the pandemic and the impact on the children and young people whom we support.

Achievements and Performance

2020/21 has been a time of consolidation of the relatively new service along with continued flexibility to meet the needs of young people, the community and our team of staff in the face of a global pandemic.

Our two-year contract with the CCG was extended for a further two years and we have also been asked to extend our reach into a cluster of Merton schools. We also received positive feedback about the outcome information and report we provided, alongside additional funding from the Wimbledon Foundation.

Last year the service more than doubled its client capacity, and again this year we further expanded our offer to 519 referrals during 2020/21. We saw a big increase in self-referrals with approx. 51% of young people contacting us directly. We continued to receive just under a third of our referrals (31%) from Merton CAMHS and the remaining referrals (approx.19%) from other professional, including schools.

During the period we offered 2207 sessions (up by 15% on last year) of which 80% were attended (up 4% on last year). The service offered counselling sessions to 540 young people (up 25% on last year) but despite the increased sessions available, the sharp increase in new referrals has led to longer waiting times during the year.

The demographics of young people receiving support indicated that approx. 69% of clients identified as female, 29% identified as male and 1% identified as other (a category which includes non-binary and transgender). Of these young people: 24% were aged 11 to 13, 55% were aged between 14 and 18, and 20% of clients in the 18 to 25 age group (double that of the previous year where support for this age group was introduced. Data indicates that 57% identified as being from diverse BAME backgrounds, with the remaining 43% identifying as coming from a White British background.

Young people seek support with a wide range of presenting issues with anxiety by far the most common (60%). Young people presenting with issues around family (44%); depression (38%); self-esteem (33%) and school (31%) were also significant. Those presenting with school issues was down by approximately 10% whilst those presenting with low mood and symptoms of depression was up by approximately 10%. Other issues that were of note were suicidal ideation (23%, up by more than 10% this year); peer relationship issues (23%); self-harm (21%); isolation (21%) and anger (20%). Overall, these figures paint a picture of young people who are struggling with anxiety, low mood, alongside difficult family relationships and a sense of isolation and hopelessness. The figures also demonstrate a significant number of young people presenting a risk to their own safety.

Young people accessing support presented on average with levels of psychological distress in the “moderate-to-severe” range (average score 20.51) and at the end of interventions on average scored within the “mild” range for psychological distress (average score 14.79).

Feedback shared with the service demonstrated repeatedly that young people appreciated that they were listened to and treated with patience and respect with 100% of young people who gave feedback said that the help they had received with OTR Merton was good.

7

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Examples of written feedback include:

d) ONLINE SERVICES

Objectives and Activities

Through our dedicated secure website (www.talkofftherecordonline.org), we provide free online services to young people aged 11-25 in the London boroughs of Croydon, Sutton and Merton. The online services are offered in three formats:

The online counselling service allows young people to write about their problems rather than talking face-to-face, meaning they can have their counselling and support entirely online. To compliment this one-to-one support, targeted workshops are delivered, providing practical help and information about key issues young people might be struggling with (for example, exam stress, sleep, managing through lockdown and supporting parents and carers with a child who self-harms).

Achievements and Performance

Each year since Off the Record launched it’s online support provision in 2016 there has been a rise in the number of young people signing up for the service. However, as a result of the COVID pandemic, there has been exceptional demand for online support over 2020-21, with 830 young people registering for online counselling. The increase in young people requesting an online service (increasing from 508 in 2019-20) is perhaps unsurprising, given that ‘online’ was a Covid-secure way in which to access mental health support at a time when many young people were experiencing unprecedented change, uncertainty and challenge in their daily lives.

The online service aims to be responsive and accessible, offering support to young people at the point of need. Over the COVID year the online service was able to sustain a rapid response to young peoples’ requests for help, with 98% of new registrations being responded to within 72 hours of first contact.

The young peoples’ journey through the service has, however, needed to change in order to respond to the huge levels of demand. Interim support offers have been introduced to young people at the point of registration, drawing on our diverse offering which includes our online drop in, online workshops and a recently launched ‘triage system’, all of which aim to support young people into their online counselling journey. A temporary waiting list was introduced during the peak of the pandemic, although 100% of our young people were allocated to an online counsellor within 12 weeks.

Ongoing counselling provision was rapidly increased over the year, with the number of sessions being provided by the service significantly increasing from last year’s total of 1932 to 2765 (an increase of over 40%). By creating this additional capacity, with 55 sessions being offered per week to young people, the waiting list has been significantly reduced and we are delighted to report that a waiting list will not be continued into 2021-22.

8

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

A key objective of the online counselling service is to enable young people to access mental health services who might otherwise not receive any support or may struggle to attend face-to-face services. The service therefore particularly targets young people from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) background, LGBTQ+ young people, young people with disabilities, young carers and looked after children. Accordingly, 55% of online clients come from a background where they do not identify as white British, 5% identify as having a disability, 5 were young carers and 30 identified as Looked After Children. Furthermore a small but growing number of young people (3%) described their gender as ‘nonbinary’ or in ‘another way’ to male/female.

Engagement within the service remained on a par with the past couple of years of reporting, with 68% of sessions being attended. This continues to be higher than expected within the field of online counselling (where a 50% Did Not Attend (DNA) rate is standard). Feedback on our service remains extremely positive, with over 95% responding positively to the statement ‘Overall the help I received here was good’.

"I didn't feel too pushed to talk and I was eased into (my online counselling), and as a person who finds it difficult to talk about a lot of problems, this definitely helped me. I've felt more open to talking to people. I really appreciate you all trying to help me and I want to give a big thank you."

“Overall my messages are getting shorter and shorter and its all thanks to you, so thankyou, you have made the world of a difference. I wouldn’t be content or as happy as I am without your support, kindness and general helpfulness. Thankyou for listening when I thought nobody would.”

"This is the most open I have ever felt talking to a counsellor and I am made to feel safe and not judged and like they care."

As this report marks the end of a complete year delivering mental health services to young people alongside the COVID pandemic, it feels important to take stock of the challenging year that has passed and what the landscape might look like in online mental health service provision moving forwards. At the start of the pandemic Off the Record was well placed, with an existing online provision, to respond to support the needs of young people needing mental health support. However, as we begin to move towards a ‘post pandemic’ normal, we expect online counselling to increasingly become a normal part of a mental health offer. As such, we anticipate major changes occurring in the field of digital healthcare provision; for Off the Record our key focus will be on keeping pace with these changes, bringing in video counselling capabilities on the online counselling platform and further integrating our online provision within our existing services.

2. OUTREACH SERVICES

BLACK AND MINORITY ETHNIC MENTAL HEALTH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT & OUTREACH WORKERS

Objectives and Activities

The Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Mental Health Community Development Workers (CDW) act as a bridge between statutory mental health services and local BAME communities, raising awareness of mental health issues, identifying barriers to accessing services, improving service experiences and outcomes for BAME children and young people. The CDW work in Croydon, is funded by Croydon Clinical Commissioning Group and delivered through a partnership between Off the Record and Croydon BME Forum, with each partner employing CDW’s supporting different age ranges from 0-60 plus. The CDW’s based within OTR, support BAME young people aged 0-35 and work strategically in addition to delivering developmental interventions.

Through the Thriving Not Just Surviving initiative funded by Comic Relief, we run activities in the community to ensure the needs of BAME boys and young men are met. Working specifically with those aged 11-20, the initiative aims to reduce stigma, introduce innovative approaches and increase the early take up of mental health support and promote emotional wellbeing.

Our ‘Chris’ work, provides community located therapeutic and developmental support to young BAME people aged 1425, affected by escalating incidences of serious youth violence or sudden death. Young people contacting ‘Chris’ are fast-tracked to a BAME counsellor able to respond flexibly to their needs.

9

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Achievements and Performance

The work of the BAME community teams’ this year has understandably been impacted by the events of the Covid pandemic and the tragic death of George Floyd. During the height of this pandemic, the subsequent lockdowns and the escalation of Black Lives Matter (BLM), a rethink was needed to see how we could still provide much needed support to BAME children, young people and their families.

We have facilitated monthly ‘Young People Say’ events, attracting young people from diverse backgrounds, sharing their views on topics such as Black Lives Matter, Diversity and Inclusion, Covid19 self-reflections including lockdowns and vaccines, thoughts and feelings about being out from/returning to school, college or university and exam stress.

The team marked Mental Health Awareness Week, by co-hosting and facilitating two mental health workshop discussions about the impact of Covid 19 on BAME communities. The discussions attracted 32 participants, representing a wide range of Croydon’s BAME community. In what proved to be a very open discussion, participants engaged in sharing a mixture of personal and second hand experiences relating to traumas faced during this uncertain time, expressing concerns over family members, being separated from loved ones, losing family or friends and wondering what comes next. Participants shared how this impacted on their anxiety and stress levels and spoke about what things they would do in attempting to cope.

The team released a video series called 'BAME Empowerment Stories' which included six, 5 minute interviews with BAME people who have overcome obstacles in their lives (such as losing a parent, becoming a teenage parent, coming out as transgender), with empowering, reflective words.

We also co-hosted mental health discussions with 13 young people from E.M.P.I.R.E, as part of mental health awareness week. The discussions proved to be thought provoking, with the young people raising issues around the lack of cultural competence/awareness of staff, challenging how a professional could really help them understand what they are experiencing when they don’t understand themselves, why there are such long waiting times and why they don’t get allocated a professional matched to their ethnicity, to highlight but a few.

Working in conjunction with local barbers (when restrictions permitted), we facilitated ‘Trim N Grin’ events. The purpose of these events were to engage with young BAME boys aged 11 to 25, to discuss their views on mental health and the services available. We offered a ‘free haircut’ (paid for by us), to every young person attending the sessions.

We delivered a series of ‘Can we Talk?’ workshop discussions, to 112 participants from the BAME community. The discussions focused on mental health wellbeing, with the aim of raising awareness, building resilience and reducing stigma of mental health.

We supported the promotion of the recruitment of 1000 residents on to the free, 2 day Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) course scheme, being championed by the local authority Mental Health Champion, Cllr Janet Campbell, through ensuring that the BAME community are aware of it.

We delivered a mental health awareness presentation to approximately 120 staff from Croydon and Coulsdon College. The aim was to support college staff in both their and their students’ mental wellbeing, when preparing for students return to education after lockdown. Staff were also signposted to the MHFA training.

We have begun to work with Yemi Hughes from ‘Your City Says No’. Yemi, is a community activist who is helping to supply the Borough of Croydon with Bleed Kits comprising of items like scissors, tourniquets, and special bandages made of crushed shrimp shell, which are particularly effective in clotting blood. The Kits were born due to the tragic death of Yemi’s son, who was stabbed to death in Croydon. Medical practitioners have stated that had Yemi’s son been administered with the contents of the Bleed Kit, his chances of survival would have been much higher. Currently there are 5 Kits around the borough in Mini Cab Stations, a Take-Away shop and in some of the BAME Barbers Network shops. We hope to also train more of the Barbers to be able to administer the kits and expand the Kits throughout Croydon and Merton.

We redesigned our long standing face-to-face cultural competence training package to an online version to enable its continuous delivery during the lockdowns. With the new format we delivered 4 sessions to 48 staff from SLaM.

10

OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Working alongside our specialist service for Refugees and Asylum Seekers (RASS), we delivered an awareness raising session as part of Refugee week.

In collaboration with Patrick Hutchinson and his team from United To Change And Inspire (UTCAI), we offered physical activities such as Boxing, Judo, and MMA, in order to support young people’s wellbeing. We also facilitated engaging the young people with talks about education, criminal justice system and parenthood. During the half-term, we met and engaged with 26 young people at one of Croydon’s youth centres.

We delivered a presentation to approximately 40 staff from CAMHS, at their clinical Governance Away Day. The presentation was on how they can make their services more relevant to our local BAME community.

We have continued to develop the BAME Barbers Network in Croydon and Merton. The Network is comprised of 12 barbershops, working with Off the Record, Croydon BME Forum (BME) and other partners such as London South Bank University and local youth engagement establishments. The Network is currently working with the South Bank University on a project that trains the barbers to be able to use blood pressure machines in order to take their customers’ blood pressure, when waiting for a haircut. The long term goal is that the barbers will be working alongside local medical practices, to send the data to a professional. Barbers will be trained in having those delicate conversations with the client to gently advise them to have further conversations with their GP, if any readings are concerning. Barbers, have also been supported to refer any clients they feel that are struggling with their mental health to Off the Record if the clients are between 11 and 25 years of age, or to community mental health services if older.

3. REFUGEE & ASYLUM SEEKER COUNSELLING SERVICE

Objectives and Activities

The Refugee Service provides individual counselling and group work to young refugees, asylum seekers or forced migrants aged 11-25yrs in Croydon. Counselling is generally short-term and delivered through a mixture of sessions offered in schools and colleges and at Off the Record’s offices as this maximises our accessibility for this vulnerable group of young people.

During 2020-21 the Refugee Service had the normal services severely disrupted by the Covid pandemic and consequently all services - our counselling service, our work in the Virtual School and John Ruskin College, were restricted to offering online and telephone counselling. Our usual waiting list system was modified so that we added holding calls to regular weekly sessions.

We maintained our support for new arrivals, age disputed young people and refused or destitute asylum seekers in our specialist provision within Off the Record. We have focused on adapting our approach to how we offer a culturally sensitive mental health provision, addressing the physical, cultural and psychological barriers for young migrants in accessing support. We have done this by extending our service into community groups to bring a mental health message into non-stigmatised settings.

Achievements and Performance

The year 2020-21 has been a year of change for the refugee service. The Covid pandemic continued throughout the year with the service being adapted to run from our individual homes. The new system, developed to accommodate the ‘new reality’ became our established way of working; calling clients every 3 weeks for holding calls before being allocated to weekly counselling. Phone calls have been the regular way of contacting our clients as many of those who live independently do not have the data required for video meetings. Many other young people living in foster care tend to prefer telephone counselling as well.

‘Attendance’ in relation to phone calls has remained high as clients faced ongoing isolation through Covid which brought up past memories making time alone more difficult. Our system of holding calls enabled us to reach more clients and reduce waiting times. Referrals remained low for the majority of the year but started to pick up with the lifting of lockdown restrictions around January 2021.

A total of 182 clients have engaged in counselling with the refugee service in the past year. Client ages ranged from 12 to 25 years old with 59% being aged between 14 and 18 and 33% being aged between 19-24. Clients came from 20 different countries with the majority still coming from Afghanistan (26%) and Albania (14%) and Eritrea and Vietnam making up the other significant percentages.

81% of clients seen for an assessment were accepted for counselling and 60% of clients waited less than 6 weeks after assessment for counselling. Unfortunately, the wait for assessment was longer with 39% waiting up to 6 weeks although 20% were seen in the first 2 weeks. As we usually make allowances for language issues, other pressing appointments in

11

OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

the client’s life such as solicitors and social workers, the boundary around time can be flexible. In these cases, we now go back to the referrer more promptly with available start dates plus a deadline to respond. They then pursues the client. This takes advantage of the already established relationship that the referrer has with the client.

The DNA rate was 19% which is lower than the previous year at 21% and is a significant decrease on previous years. Telephone counselling has brought benefits to the client, i.e. not having to attend a physical location, that are reflected in these attendance figures.

The new contract with Croydon Council catering for Croydon Care Leavers was extended, so additional counselling sessions were offered as well as offering some mental health input in weekly social groups. During the pandemic lockdowns, the community outreach work element of this project had been difficult to maintain but after the end of March restrictions were lifted and groups began to operate as normal and invite young people to meet in small numbers. We were therefore able to place a mental health worker in 5 groups: Injera Club; Young Roots/Refugee Council Girls group; Hillsong Football group; the Shpresa Albanian group (delivered through Croydon Drop In and the Virtual School at the Archbishop Tenison school. Within each of these, the counsellor or mental health worker worked to build relationships with the young people and facilitate engagement with counselling or enable greater awareness of mental well-being. As these interventions have been offered in a non-stigmatised environment, the young people have engaged well and felt able to talk openly to the mental health worker.

Our ongoing work with the Virtual School has been incorporated into the Care Leavers project above and continued to operate as smaller groups outside of the main classroom for young people covering mental health issues such as sleep problems. Additionally, individual sessions were arranged for students to discuss personal issues in order to assess whether there was a need for weekly counselling.

The face-to-face counselling at John Ruskin College was re-instated for a day a week in March and continues to work well.

Our Young Roots partnership has been successful with our counsellor providing drop-in counselling at the ‘hub’ weekly youth group. The work was awarded additional funding to provide one extra hour a week to accommodate the increase in isolation that was reported by the clients as a result of lockdown. The counsellor maintained the service via Zoom and also delivered additional workshops to address the difficulties presented by the isolation of lockdown.

Clients have commented that the counselling service is of huge value to them. One young man said that he really felt understood and the counsellor “knew what was in his head”. Another young man’s comments on his counselling were that he was; “Thankful for what you have done for me … Helpful to me and my family … When I talk to you I feel free”.

And when receiving a 5 year visa after being homeless with no money and waiting for 9 years for a decision from the Home Office, this young man said “Thanks for all your support, I am so, so, so thankful to you. May Allah give you long life with good health for your family”.

4. YOUNG CARERS’ SERVICE

Objectives & Activities

The Young Carers Service is a free and friendly service, offering support to young people aged 7-25, caring for someone with a physical disability, mental health issue, long-term physical illness, learning difficulty or for drug and alcohol dependency. The YCS offers assessment, respite, and educational, emotional and social support to children and young people.

The YCS casework is aimed to reduce the effects of harmful caring and enable young carers to build their aspirations, have healthy mental health and minds and fulfil their potential beyond their caring role.

The Young Carers Service is staffed by a multidisciplinary team and is co-located with other carers services in the Carers Support Centre in central Croydon. The building closed at the end of March 2020 due to the global Covid pandemic. The YCS went online at the same time to stay connected with young carers.

Achievements & Performance

At the end of March 2021 there were 833 young carers and young adult carers registered with the service. There were 110 referrals in this period, this is a slight decline from previous years but particularly in April to Oct, understandable based on the implications from the first lockdown and professionals who were in less contact with young

12

OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

people to refer. Referrals began to increase once schools were back more substantially and particularly from late Jan 2021 onwards with a spike in the middle of March 2021.

84% of assessments were completed with the 8 week period, this is a positive increase from last year and is likely because the assessment worker was able to contact families more easily as they were based at home more.

Of the new referrals 37% were male and 63% female. The most common reason for caring was physical disability (32%), learning disability (22%), physical ill health (22%) and mental ill health (21%) were all similar with an additional 2% caring for someone due to substance misuse [note - some young carers may care for a family member with more than one issue]. The average age of young carers at the point of registration with the service was 11 yrs. old.

During April to July 2020 there was a huge move to screen all young carers registered with us and offer support through the first lockdown; the aim to make sure families were connected to relevant services and could cope with the situations they were in. All registered young carers were contacted, 413 families (including multiple siblings groups) had detailed conversations with a YCS colleague and their responses recorded. This constitutes a huge amount of data about the issues going on for young carers during a difficult period, we aim to build a project or report from this data and information to help in future funding and service delivery. These conversations shaped how delivery by YCS was shaped and delivered to young carers over the rest of the financial year.

This screening process was very emotional for the staffing team but was also an amazing opportunity to hear the struggles young people were having and the different experiences of families and the openness of people about their feelings. This process reminded families of the support available and were (for most people) the only professionals who had actively contacted them to find out about their needs and how they were.

Young carers had a range of different responses to being in lockdown which ranged from relief in being together and spending time with the rest of the family to loneliness and frustration at feeling isolated from the world. Some issues were universal and some specific to being young carers; worry about shielding or being able to protect their families from covid; technology poverty and lack of access to online provision; financial and suitable housing worries and general anxiety about being in a global pandemic. We also had more referrals about young people living with parents with terminal cancer, they have been referred at a late stage and so we have ensured signposting to other services such as Winston’s Wish, Duffus Cancer Foundation or local hospices.

There have been some staffing and funding changes over the last year including the YCS manager who had been in role for over 10 years and an ending of Children in Need funding, replaced by CCG funding.

The Service offers a number of different ways for young carers and their family members to engage: 1:1 support: individual support sessions offer dedicated time for young carers to raise concerns and gain support from young carers staff. There are 1:1 workers with specialisms in mental health and wellbeing, education and young adult carers (18-25 yrs. old). 1:1 interventions have been delivered entirely online or by phone since April 2020, the aim is to provide face to face interventions from April 2021 back in schools and community settings. Support has been responsive but difficult to make commitments month to month and it has been much longer away from face to face than expected. There have been 857 interventions over the year; 354 for education, 154 for mental health, 42 for art therapy/counselling, 307 for young adult carers.

Respite: our extensive respite program is a key component of our work. Trips and activities take place throughout school holidays, there are also ad hoc group sessions for young carers and young adult carers facilitated by partner organisations or the YCS team. In August and September 2020, the YCS offered face to face outdoor group sessions (in line with government guidance at the time). YCS facilitated six park days for young carers and young adult carers to meet in person, with pizza and sports/games. These were well attended considering the situation at the time, with between 2-12 attendees. Online respite was provided in October half term 2020, Christmas 2020 and February half term 2021 with good attendance by primary and secondary age children and young people, particularly for fun and creative activities such as comic drawing, dance and art workshops. Planning for respite has been more short term in response to covid restrictions and following national guidance but that has not changed the commitment to providing them as safe spaces for children and young people. Face to face park meet up days are planned for Easter 2021 and May half term 2021, there is a feeling of screen fatigue and an easing of guidance that will help with facilitating these. There have been 177 attendances at respite (both online and in person) this year.

Therapeutic support: our art & play therapist provides sessions to primary aged young carers in schools. These sessions are crucial to young carers who may find it difficult to put their emotions into words. In April 2020 there was a move entirely to online delivery of the therapeutic support and, due to the difficulties of working with primary school children online, we offered phone and zoom counselling support to young people 11-25 instead which proved helpful, particularly to the young adult carers who seemed most comfortable with digital therapy.

13

OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Training & awareness raising: in addition to our direct work with young carers and their families, the service delivered a number of workshops for professionals. These sessions have been severely reduced over this year, the YCS have continued to offer them but the take up has been low. Two awareness raising sessions were delivered for Croydon Children’s Social Care and Early Help in February and March 2021, the hope is this will increase appropriate referrals from those services.

Young Carers, Young Adult Carers, parents and professionals' quotes:

Aspirations for 2021-2022:

STATEMENT ON PUBLIC BENEFIT

The objectives and activities, and achievement and performance sections of this report clearly set out the activities which the charity undertakes for the public benefit. The Management Committee confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 4 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to public benefit guidance published by the Commission in determining the activities undertaken by the charity.

RISK MANAGEMENT

The Management Committee actively review the major risks which the charity faces on a regular basis and has established systems to mitigate those risks including reports to Management Committee meetings against an agreed risk register. The risk register was substantially expanded in 2020 to include consideration of risks arising from Covid pandemic. Some of the key risks kept under regular review are:

Financial – the risk of loss of funding through non-renewal of grants/contracts; over-expenditure through lack of financial control; fraud; potential future VAT/ tax liability. This risk is managed through robustly implemented financial procedures overseen by the Treasurer and Finance Committee; monthly cashflow and quarterly management accounts presented to the Trustee Board; professional VAT/ tax advice; fraud response plan; and by maintaining a sufficient level of reserves to safeguard the charity in the event of adverse conditions. Additional previously unbudgeted expenditure was encountered in 2020-21 to equip staff for remote working due to Covid which was agreed through the Finance Committee.

Clinical – the charity works with vulnerable young people in the area of mental health. Risks include clients harming themselves or others; deterioration in mental health; stress levels for staff; staff feeling unclear about policies and procedures. This risk is managed through regular clinical/casework supervision for staff in line with professional guidance and robust risk and safeguarding training and procedures. Additional training and guidance was produced in 2020-21 to equip staff for delivering clinical work through telephone and/or video as a response to Covid. Strong recruitment practices target high quality clinical staff including mandatory videos whereby a mock example of a counsellor's work is recorded and reviewed. All staff are required to attend annual safeguarding training.

14

OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Premises & Facilities – risks include Health & Safety breaches within maintained premises creating potential risks to staff or service users and risk of litigation; financial risks from costs of building maintenance & upkeep; catastrophic events e.g. fire/flood making one or more building unusable. These risks are managed by having a Health & Safety Officer in place, regular Health & Safety checks & risk assessments, routine maintenance of key facilities inc. fire safety. A business continuity plan is in place with provisions to deal with loss of building use/facilities which was activated when Covid caused the closure of all offices.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

During the year Off the Record received income totalling £1,748,888 (2020: £1,631,417). Resources expended totalled £1,743,947 (2020: £1,440,157). The net movement in funds for the year is a surplus of £4,941 (2020: £191,260). This resulted in total funds at 31 March 2021 of £784,763 (2020: £779,822).

Our principal funding sources in this year were: Croydon CCG; Sutton CCG; Merton CCG; SWL CCG; London Borough of Croydon; London Borough of Sutton; BBC Children in Need; Comic Relief; Wimbledon Foundation; Health Education England.

Reserves Policy

Off the Record’s general unrestricted reserves represent funds of the charity that are freely available, excluding designated funds and restricted funds.

The Reserves Policy, was reviewed and confirmed by the Management Committee in 2020. This states that Off the Record holds reserves for the following purposes:

The target level of reserves is reviewed by the Management Committee each year as part of the annual budget process taking into account:

For the 2021/2022 budgetary period the charity is aiming for a target range of 4-5 months operating costs (currently approximately £680,000 - £850,000) of unrestricted reserves. The current level of reserves is slightly below this range but additional funding for the charity has recently been awarded which will bring reserves back within this range.

Total general unrestricted funds at 31 March 2021 are £602,184 (2020: £592,799), designated funds were £178,672 (2020: £145,323) and restricted funds £3,907 (2020: £41,700). This is considered adequate as the monthly expenditure of the charity is relatively stable, and we now have significant contracts with a range of funders.

Included in designated funds are the fixed asset funds. The property asset is not available to spend as the Charity operates from its premises.

15

OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

PLANS FOR FUTURE PERIODS

As already acknowledged, the way in which we have delivered our services in 2020/21 has been fundamentally impacted by Covid restrictions. Despite the challenges we’re proud that all our services have remained open to young people throughout the pandemic and are now working with even more young people than in pre-pandemic times. Our challenge for 2021/22 is to build on the innovation developed during the last year and to strengthen and broaden our mental health offer to support the even larger numbers of young people who are reaching out to us. As we move forward, we want to build a compassionate mental health community for young people that offers a fast, holistic, meaningful mental health response to young people at their moment of need. We are initiating a new first contact team who will work across all our boroughs and services reaching out to young people at that first point of need and offering initial short-term mental health responses and navigating young people to relevant resources and support both within and beyond Off the Record. This is part of a broader goal to bring greater integration across services and boroughs that maximises the skills and capacity of our staff and ensures all young people have access to the support that can best meet their needs. This integration includes moving forward with our goal to significantly raise our awareness and response to issues of inclusion and diversity across the whole charity. Our ‘integration’ agenda is being supported by an external consultant who has been working with us throughout 2021, meeting staff, mapping pathways and developing proposals to help drive our inclusion goals forward.

Since January 2020, Off the Record, in partnership with Croydon Drop In, have co-hosted a Croydon schools’ Mental Health Support Team and from January 2022 we will be co-hosting a further Croydon team. In addition, we have been commissioned to provide a similar schools’ provision in Merton from April 2021. Whilst in-school service delivery in 2020/21 was inevitably disrupted by school closures during Covid lockdowns, the existing team has continued with largely remote delivery and the recently agreed expansion of our schools’ work in both Croydon and Merton means that this will be a significant area of growth for the charity in 2021/22.

Our Outreach and Community work is a key priority for Off the Record and this was severely impacted by the lockdown restrictions of the last year. In 2021/22, we want to focus on re-engaging with local communities and with young people in the community. This will include re-energising the work of our ‘CHRIS’ counsellors who engage with young people in Croydon impacted by sudden or violent death; and broadening our work targeting positive mental health messages to BAME young men through our barbershop work and through new partnerships with Youth services in Croydon and Merton. We also want to continue building opportunities for young people to address their mental health through physical health activities bringing broader health benefits to young people who have faced an unnatural level of enforced physical inactivity over the Covid lockdown periods.

It is important that we do not minimise the substantial physical, psychological, educational and economic damage that the Covid pandemic has brought to individuals, families and communities. Nor must we underestimate the significant challenges and uncertainties that still lie ahead. Supporting those young people whose mental health has suffered or who have had their aspirations and life choices damaged by this pandemic will be a key goal of Off the Record over the next year. However, we are determined to take the best of the learning and innovation driven by the crisis and to use this to create a stronger, broader, positive, more integrated and responsive mental health offer to young people.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Structure

‘’Off the Record’’ Youth Counselling Croydon (Off the Record) is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and governed by a Memorandum and Articles of Association.

Governance and Management

The governance of the charity is the responsibility of the Management Committee who are elected and co-opted under the terms of the Articles of Association. The Management Committee consists of up to 12 elected trustees, elected by the members at the Annual General Meeting (AGM), up to 5 co-opted members, a representative from any body which the Management Committee certifies is providing substantial funding to the company (non-voting members of the Committee) and the honorary officers.

16

OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Every elected Trustee (excluding honorary officers) will retire from office at the end of the third annual general meeting following their election. Retiring Trustees may be eligible for re-election. The number of the Management Committee shall not fall below five. The Management Committee who served during the year were as follows:

Ohenewaa Adu-Akyeampong appointed 10/10/20 Alice Barley appointed 05/12/20 Alefiyah Bharmal John Denham Laura Haigh appointed 10/10/20 Brij Kalia appointed 16/05/20 Johnathan Keating appointed 10/10/20 Patricia Nearn Mark Penlington Nic Shoults appointed 10/10/20

Induction and Training of Management Committee

The charity recruits new Management Committee members through local and national adverts and interviews potential members with reference to a job description and person specification. If selected from interview, Management Committee members are offered an induction process including an induction pack and the opportunity to observe a Management Committee meeting. The Management Committee has created a Governance Manual which is provided to all new Trustees. In 2020, as a benefit from our GSK Impact award, Off the Record has received enhanced support through the REACH Trustee recruitment service and we have been able to bring 6 new Trustees onto the Committee during the year.

Organisational Structure and Decision Making

The Management Committee consider governance issues at their regular meetings. The Committee meet at least quarterly throughout the year to ensure all governance issues are regularly addressed.

The Management Committee continue to make decisions relating to the overall strategic direction of the charity and ensure that the organisation is working in accordance with its aims and objectives and Memorandum and Articles of Association. The Management Committee delegate responsibility to senior staff for ensuring that service provision is carried out within the charity’s overall strategy; for overseeing the charity’s progress in meeting its objectives; and ensuring that the charity meets its legal and financial obligations including compliance with laws on equalities and diversity; Information Governance and Health and Safety in the way it employs and delivers services.

Key management personnel remuneration

The Management Committee consider the board of trustees and staff listed on page 1 as comprising the key management personnel of the charity in charge of directing and controlling the charity and running and operating the charity on a day to day basis. All trustees give of their time freely and no trustee remuneration was paid in the year. Details of trustee expenses and related party transactions are disclosed in note 6 & 19 to the accounts.

Trustees are required to disclose all relevant interests and register them with the Agency Director and, in accordance with Management Committee policy, withdraw from decisions where a conflict of interest arises.

The charity employs a small team of senior managers comprised of a Director, Assistant Director and six service managers who together oversee the delivery of work to young people and the line management of paid staff and volunteers. Most senior managers also undertake a level of direct service delivery. Senior managers’ pay is primarily aligned to local government pay scales with pay increases mirroring nationally agreed increases to the scales. During the year, there have been some temporary changes to senior staff in post due to maternity cover.

17

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

STATEMENT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE’S RESPONSIBILITIES

The Management Committee (who are also directors of Off The Record Youth Counselling Croydon for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Management Committees’ Annual Report (including the Strategic Report) and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Charity law requires the Management Committee to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the surplus or deficit of the charity for that period. In preparing those financial statements the Management Committee are required to:

The Management Committee are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud or other irregularities.

Statement as to Disclosure of Information to Auditors

So far as the Management Committee are aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company's auditors are unaware, and each trustee has taken all the steps that he or she ought to have taken as a trustee in order to make himself or herself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charity’s auditors are aware of that information.

Approved by the Management Committee on 3 November 2021 and signed on their behalf by:

Mark Penlington

Alefiyah Bharmal

18

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF ‘’OFF THE RECORD’’ YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of “Off the Record” Youth Counselling Croydon for the year ended 31 March 2021 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, Balance Sheet and 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:

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 charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the ISAs (UK) require us to report to you where:

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.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

19

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF ‘’OFF THE RECORD’’ YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) 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 the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

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.

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/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above and on the Financial Reporting Council’s website, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud.

We obtain and update our understanding of the entity, its activities, its control environment, and likely future developments, including in relation to the legal and regulatory framework applicable and how the entity is complying with that framework. Based on this understanding, we identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. This includes consideration of the risk of acts by the entity that were contrary to applicable laws and regulations, including fraud.

In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, including fraud, we designed procedures which included:

20

OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.

Other matter

Your attention is drawn to the fact that the charity has prepared financial statements 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 in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)" (as amended) in preference to the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice issued on 1 April 2005 which is referred to in the extant regulations but has now been withdrawn.

This has been done in order for the financial statements to provide a true and fair view in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Practice effective for reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2016.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company's members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Catherine Cooper (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of Azets Audit Services Statutory Auditor Greytown House 221-227 High Street Orpington Kent BR6 0NZ

Date: 16 November 2021

21

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT

Unrestricted Restricted Total Total
funds funds 2021 2020
Notes £ £ £ £
Income from:
Donations 7,512 4,100 11,612 6,668
Other Income - - - -
Interest 529 - 529 929
Grants & contracts 2 1,614,013 116,220 1,730,233 1,563,667
Other income 6,514 - 6,514 60,153
_____ _____ _______ _______
Total income 1,628,568 120,320 1,748,888 1,631,417
_____ _____ _______ _______
Resources Expended
Charitable activities:
Counselling services 1,056,906 43,426 1,100,331 941,841
Outreach Services 130,192 81,477 211,669 134,281
Young Refugees Project 160,730 2,719 163,449 92,396
Young Carers Project 237,955 30,543 268,498 271,639
_____ _____ _____ _____
Total resources expended 3 1,585,783 158,165 1,743,947 1,440,157
_____ _____ _____ _____
Net movement in funds 8 42,786 (37,845) 4,941 191,260
Transfer (52) 52 - -
Funds brought forward at
1 April 2019		 738,122 41,700 779,822 588,562
_____ _____ _____ _____
Total funds carried forward at
31 March 2020 780,856 3,907 784,763 779,822
_____ _____ _____ _____

All of the charity’s transactions are derived from continuing activities.

The Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.

22

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

COMPARATIVE INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT

Unrestricted Restricted Total
funds funds 2020
Notes £ £ £
Income from:
Donations 4,445 2,223 6,668
Other Income - - -
Interest 929 - 929
Grants & contracts 2 1,218,960 344,707 1,563,667
Other income 60,152 - 60,153
_____ _____ _______
Total income 1,284,486 346,930 1,631,417
_____ _____ _______
Resources Expended
Charitable Activities:
Counselling services 769,114 172,727 941,841
Outreach Services 17,852 116,429 134,281
Young Refugees Project 65,115 27,281 92,396
Young Carers Project 239,515 32,124 271,639
_____ _____ _____
Total resources expended 3 1,091,596 348,561 1,440,157
_____ _____ _____
Net movement in funds 8 192,891 (1,631) 191,260
Funds brought forward at
1 April 2019		 545,231 43,331 588,562
_____ _____ _____
Total funds carried forward at
31 March 2020 738,122 41,700 779,822
_____ _____ _____

23

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

Company number 2987817

BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 MARCH 2021

Note 2021 2020
£ £ £ £
Fixed Assets 10 138,672 138,672
Current Assets
Debtors 11 179,889 97,760
Cash at bank and in hand 593,266 603,727
____ ____
773,155 701,487
Creditors:amounts falling
due within one year 12 (127,064) (60,337)
____ ____
Net Current Assets 646,091 641,150
__ __
Net Assets 784,763 779,822
__ __
Represented by:
Restricted funds 13 3,907 41,700
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds 14 178,672 145,323
General fund 602,184 592,799
__ __
Total funds 15 784,763 779,822
__ __

Approved by the Board of Management Committee on 3 November 2021 and signed on their behalf by:

Mark Penlington

Alefiyah Bharmal

24

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

CASHFLOW STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Notes
Cash flow from operating activities
18
Net cash flow from operating activities
Cash flow from investing activities
Interest received
Net cash flow from investing activities
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents at 01 April 2020
Cash and cash equivalents at 31 March 2021
Cash and cash equivalents consists of:
Cash at bank and in hand
Cash and cash equivalents at 31 March 2021		 2021
2020
£
£
(10,990)
163,272
_
_
(10,990)
163,272
_
_
529
929
_
_
529
929
_
_
(10,461)
164,201
603,727
439,526
_
_
593,266
603,727
_
_
593,266
603,727
_
_
593,266
603,727

25

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES

a. Basis of preparation

Off the Record Youth Counselling Croydon is a company limited by guarantee in the United Kingdom. In the event of the charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per member of the charity. The address of the registered office is given in the charity information on page 1 of these financial statements. The nature of the charity’s operations and principal activities are set out on page 2.

The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. 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 in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued on 16 July 2014, the Charities Act 2011 and UK Generally Accepted Practice as it applies from 1 January 2015, updated for bulletin1&2.

The financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis under the historical cost convention, modified to include certain items at fair value. The financial statements are prepared in sterling which is the functional currency of the charity.

The significant accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all years presented unless otherwise stated.

b. Income

All income is included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when the charity is legally entitled to the income after any performance conditions have been met, the amount can be measured reliably and it is probable that the income will be received.

For donations and grants receivable, including donations and gifts, are included in full in the Statement of Financial Activities when receivable.

Investment income is accounted for when received. Tax recoverable on investment income is accounted for on a receivable basis.

Other income is included in full in the Statement of Financial Activities when receivable.

c. Expenditure

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. Expenditure is recognised where there is a legal or constructive obligation to make payments to third parties, it is probable that the settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. It is categorised under the following headings:

d. Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are 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 funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the charity for particular purposes. The cost of raising and administering such funds are charged against the specific fund. The aim and use of each restricted fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Designated funds represent funds invested in fixed assets. The designated fund balance has been represented to ensure that fund balance stated accurately reflects the designation policy adopted by the Management Committee.

26

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued)

e. Tangible fixed assets

All assets costing over £5,000 are capitalised. Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less depreciation. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost or valuation of fixed assets, less their estimated residual value, over their expected useful lives as follows:

Office Equipment - 33 1/3 % straight line

f. Debtors and creditors receivable/payable within one year

Debtors and creditors with no stated interest rate and receivable or payable within one year are recorded at transaction price. Any losses arising from impairment are recognised in expenditure.

g. Leasing commitments

Rentals payable and receivable under operating leases are charged to the SoFA on a straight line basis over the period of the lease.

h. Going concern

The Management Committee have renewed the charitable company’s budgets and taken into account the expected impact of Coronavirus. Whilst it is difficult to predict the potential implications on the future revenue with any certainty, on the basis of the Management Committee’s review, there is a reasonable expectation that the charitable company will have adequate resources to continue an operational existence for the foreseeable future and it is therefore appropriate to adapt the going concern basis of accounting for these financial statements.

i. Judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

Useful economic lives of tangible assets

The annual depreciation charge for tangible assets is sensitive to changes in the estimated useful economic lives and residual values of the assets. The useful economic lives and residual values are re-assessed annually. They are amended when necessary to reflect current estimates, based on technological advancement, future investments, economic utilisation and the physical condition of the assets. See note 10 for the carrying amount of the tangible fixed assets, and note e. for the useful economic lives for each class of assets.

The are no key assumptions concerning the future and other key sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next financial year.

27

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

2 GRANTS & CONTRACTS RECEIVABLE

Restricted Funds:
Counselling services
- NHS Croydon /LB Croydon
- Wimbledon Foundation
Outreach Services
- NHS Croydon /Outreach BME CDW
- Comic Relief BAME Outreach
Young Refugees Refugee Project
- Young Refugees LBC
Young Carer’s Project
- BBC Children in Need
Unrestricted Funds and Contracts :
- NHS Croydon/LB Croydon
- Counselling Sutton LBS/CCG
- Young Carers’ LBC
- Young Refugees Croydon CCG
- Counselling Online Croydon Transformation Fund
- Counselling Croydon Transformation Fund
- Counselling Croydon CYP Mental Health
- Outreach Sutton Uplift
- Young Refugees LBC
- Young Carers’ CCG
- Young Carers’ Mental Health Post
- Adult Carers Assessment
- Counselling Online Sutton Transformation Fund
- Counselling Merton
- NHS SWL CCG Workforce Transformation Agenda
- Young Adult Carers Work
- CAMHS/LB Croydon
- CAMHS Transformation – BAME Manager post & BAME
Outreach work
- NHS Croydon/Outreach BME CDW
- Mental Health in Schools
- Counselling NHS England Wait Times
- Young Refugees DfE project
- Young Refugees Young Roots
- Young Refugees Unrestricted
- Wimbledon Foundation
TOTAL GRANTS AND CONTRACTS		 Total
2021
£
Total
2020
£
-
149,982
37,057
-
-
62,240
53,123
50,774
-
30,000
26,040
34,211
_
_
116,220
327,207
_
_
153,052
-
149,000
149,000
112,500
112,500
75,767
58,810
90,498
82,500
114,688
112,000
23,530
43,000
38,000
28,000
30,000
-
58,126
56,764
15,868
-
13,880
13,880
55,000
65,000
260,000
260,000
12,083
-
45,000
45,000
34,000
34,000
22,730
-
101,151
17,500
131,010
70,903
20,000
44,062
39,353
-
6,027
4,583
12,750
13,750
-
25,208
_
_
1,614,013
1,236,460
_
_
1,730,233
1,563,667

28

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

3 EXPENDITURE

Staff
costs
£
Charitable activities:
Counselling Services
926,287
Outreach Services
179,901
Young Refugees Project
125,107
Young Carers Project
237,553
____
1,468,848		 Direct
costs
£
Support
costs
£
Total
2021
£
Total
2020
£
54,738
119,307
1,100,332
941,841
16,309
15,459
211,669
134,281
27,183
11,159
163,449
92,396
7,585
23,360
268,498
271,639
_
__
___
_____
105,814
169,285
1,743,948
1,440,157

All costs are allocated between the expenditure categories noted above on a basis designed to reflect the use of the resource. Costs relating to a particular activity are allocated directly, others are apportioned on an appropriate basis, being, time spent.

4 CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

Unrestricted Restricted Total Total
Funds Funds 2021 2020
£ £ £ £
Counselling Services 1,056,906 43,426 1,100,332 941,841
Outreach Services 130,192 81,477 211,669 134,281
Young Refugees Project 160,730 2,719 163,449 92,396
Young Carers Project 237,955 30,543 268,498 271,639
____ ___ _____ _____
1,585,783
____		 158,165
____		 1,743,948
_____		 1,440,157
_____

In 2020 £1,091,596 of the expenditure in relation to charitable activities was attributable to the unrestricted fund, with the remaining £348,561 being attributable to the restricted fund.

5 SUPPORT COSTS

HR and Consulting
Cleaning and waste collection
Office Supplies
Telephone and Internet
Rent, Rates and Utilities
Computer Maintenance
Office and Computer Equipment
Repairs
Insurance
Payroll
Printing and postage
Other
Governance costs (note 6)		 2021
£
2020
£
6,176
5,340
11,516
14,105
2,704
3,488
6,280
6,517
78,063
84,835
12,152
12,845
19,613
10,710
1,249
1,495
5,834
4,838
6,243
5,528
8,109
6,965
2,928
4,065
8,418
7,822
__
__
169,285
168,551

29

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

6 GOVERNANCE COSTS



Auditors’ remuneration
– current year
Trustee expenditure
Professional fees		 2021
£
2020
£
8,370
7,460
-
48
14
348
__
__
8,418
7,822

7 MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE REMUNERATION AND REIMBURSED EXPENSES

During the year no Management Committee member received remuneration (2020: None) or reimbursed expenses. Trustee expenditure in note 6 above was primarily the cost of refreshments at Trustee meetings (2020: training)

8 MOVEMENT IN FUNDS

This is stated after charging:

2021 2020
£ £
Auditors’ remuneration – audit fees 8,370 7,460
____ ____
9 STAFF COSTS 2021 2020
£ £
Wages and salaries 1,307,577 1,034,401
Employer’s National Insurance 105,645 81,258
Pension contributions 55,626 38,218
_____ _____
1,468,848 1,153,877
____ ____
The average monthly number of employees by headcount during the year was:
2021 2020
Direct charitable activities 57 46
Administration and management 5 4
_ _
62 50
______ ______

The full time equivalent number of employees amounted to 39 (2020: 33)

No employee received remuneration amounting to more than £60,000 in the year (2020: none).

The total amount of employee benefits received by key management personnel is £341,812 (2020: £290,284). The Trust considers its key management personnel to compromise those individuals listed on page 1.

30

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

10 TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
Land & Office
buildings equipment Total
£ £ £
COST
At April 2020 and 31 March 2021 138,672 6,221 144,893
______ ____ _____
DEPRECIATION
At 1 April 2020 and at 31 March 2021 - 6,221 6,221
______ ____ _____
NET BOOK VALUE
At 31 March 2021 138,672 - 138,672
______ ____ _____
At 31 March 2020 138,672 - 138,672
______ ____ _____

The costs of the freehold property and other expenditure (£135,000 and £3,672 respectively) are shown gross of a £138,672 grant received from Department of Health. Under the conditions attaching to grant dated 28 April 1995 the premises are to be used for the charitable objectives of ‘Off the Record’ Youth Counselling Services. Should the conditions of the grant cease to be met the charitable company is duty bound to inform the Secretary of State and to refund to the Department of Health an amount equal to that portion of the open market value of the property as is attributable to the expenditure of the capital sum.

11
DEBTORS
Other debtors and prepayments
Grants receivable and accrued income		 2021
£
2020
£
29,882
36,914
150,007
60,846
_
_
179,889
97,760

At the end of the year grants were due from multiple providers for projects dating from January 2021, the majority of the balance was received in May 2021.

12
CREDITORS
Accruals and deferred income		 2021
£
2020
£
127,064
60,337
_
_
127,064
60,337

31

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

13
RESTRICTED FUNDS
Balance at
1.4.20
Incoming
Resources
£
£
Counselling Services
6,369
37,057
Outreach Services
28,302
53,123
Young Refugees Project
2,719
-
Young Carers Project
4,310
30,140
___
_____
41,700
120,320		 Resources
expended
£
43,426
81,477
2,719
30,543
_______
158,165		 Transfers
Balance
at
31.3.21
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
3,907
___
_____
-
3,907

Counselling: These funds are for the provision of free, confidential young people’s counselling services including online services.

Outreach Services: This fund is the provision of BAME mental health outreach and community development work and a Mental Health Wellbeing Navigator in Sutton.

Young Refugees Project: These funds are for the provision of counselling and group work support for young refugees and asylum seekers.

Young Carers’ Project: These funds are for the provision of information, advocacy, support and respite activities for children and young people with caring responsibilities at home.

Comparative Restricted Funds
Counselling Services
Outreach Services
Young Refugees Project
Young Carers Project		 Balance at
1.4.19
Incoming
Resources
£
£
29,114
149,982
14,217
130,514
-
30,000
-
36,434
___
_____
43,331
346,930		 Resources
expended
£
172,727
116,429
27,281
32,124
_______
348,561		 Transfers
Balance at
31.3.20
£
-
6,369
-
28,302
-
2,719
-
4,310
___
_____
-
41,700
14
DESIGNATED FUNDS
Balance at
31.3.20
New
Designations
Designations
Released
Property fund
138,672
-
-
Staff training
6,651
-
6,651
Database
-
40,000
-
___
__
____
145,323
40,000
6,651


 Balance at
31.3.21
138,672
-
40,000
_______
178,672

Purposes of designated funds:

Property fund – this represents the net book value of the property which the charity operates from and therefore the funds are not available for general purposes (see note 10)

Staff Training – this represents monies to be spent in 2020/21 for staff training.

Database – this represents monies in respect of costs to produce a new database for the charity

32

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

14 DESIGNATED FUNDS (continued)

Comparative Designated funds Balance at New Designations Balance at
31.3.19 Designations Released 31.3.20
Property fund 138,672 - - 138,672
Staff training 12,000 - (5,349) 6,651
_______ _______ _______ _______
150,672 - (5,349) 145,323
_______ _______ _______ _______
15 ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS
Restricted Unrestricted Total
funds funds Funds
£ £ £
Fixed assets - 138,672 138,672
Current assets 3,907 769,248 773,155
Current Liabilities - (127,064) (127,064)
_____ _____ _____
3,907
_____		 780,856
_____		 784,763
_____
Comparative analysis of net assets between funds Restricted Unrestricted Total
2020 funds funds Funds
£ £ £
- 138,672 138,672
Fixed assets 41,700 659,787 701,487
Current assets - (60,337) (60,337)
Current Liabilities _____ _____ _____
41,700
_____		 738,122
_____		 779,822
_____
16 LEASE COMMITMENTS Land and Buildings
Operating leases which expire: 2021 2020
Within one year 35,000 35,000
Between one and five years 159,370
_____		 20,425
_____

17 COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE

The Charity is limited by guarantee and accordingly has no share capital.

The liability guaranteed by each member is £1. The authorised membership of the company is unlimited. At 31 March 2021 the membership was five (2020: five).

33

“OFF THE RECORD” YOUTH COUNSELLING CROYDON (A company Limited by Guarantee)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

18. RECONCILIATION OF NET EXPENDITURE TO NET CASH FLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES

Net income / (expenditure) for 31 March 2021
Bank interest
Decrease/(Increase) in debtors
Increase / (decrease) in creditors
Net cash flow from operating activities		 2021
£
4,941
(529)
(82,129)
66,727
_____
(10,990)
 2020
£
191,259
(929)
11,026
(38,084)
_____
163,272

19. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

There were no related party transactions during the year (2020: None).

34