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THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

31 MARCH 2022

Company Registration Number 04029535 Charity Number 1082335

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Contents	Pages
Trustees’ Annual Report	1 - 19
Reference & Administrative Information	20
Independent Examiner’s Report	21
Statement of Financial Activities	22
Balance sheet	23
Notes to the financial statements	24 - 35

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Introduction

The Compassionate Friends was established in 1969 as a national charitable organisation supporting bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents after the death of a child of any age and from any cause.

The Trustees of The Compassionate Friends (“TCF”) present their annual report for the year ending 31 March 2022.

This Report has been prepared in accordance with the charity’s governing document and Statement of Recommended Practice (FRS102 2019) “Accounting and Reporting by Charities”, published by the Charity Commission.

Our legal status and governance structure are explained in the “Structure, Governance and Management” section of this report

How our work delivers Public Benefit

“Every parent’s nightmare is to lose a child”

This is a cliche, but for many, many families the nightmare tragically becomes a reality. Each year in the UK 9,000 (Office of National Statistics) children and young people under the age of 30 years die – and this figure does not include the adults (87,000 in 2019) who die at the age of 30 or over, many of whom leave behind grieving parents, who have outlived their son or daughter, and often also a grieving partner and children of their own.

National peer-to-peer support for over 50 years

TCF is a charitable organisation of bereaved parents and their families dedicated to the support and care of other bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents who have suffered the death of a child or children of any age (from one month old to an adult son or daughter) and from any cause of death. We are the only UK nationwide charity offering this vital peer -to-peer support to parents and their families.

As the first peer-to-peer charity in the UK for grieving parents, we have been bringing understanding, support, friendship and hope to bereaved parents for over 50 years. The charity began in 1969 when grieving parents Iris and Joe Lawley, Bill and Joan Henderson and Betty Rattigan were brought together for mutual support by Simon Stephens, then a young chaplain in a Coventry hospital. Together they formed The Compassionate Friends. The mutual peerto-peer support they offered each other as bereaved parents has remained at the heart of the charity since those first early days.

Our Mission

The Compassionate Friends aims to make a difference by providing support, understanding and hope to bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents who have experienced the death of a child or children of any age (over 1 month old to an adult son or daughter) and from any cause.

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We do this by offering accessible, high quality peer support services and information to bereaved parents and their families.

Our Vision

Every bereaved parent, adult sibling and grandparent throughout the UK can find and access the lifeline of high quality, appropriate and safe peer support services.

Our Purpose

TCF is a registered charity and its purposes are as set out in the objects contained in our Memorandum and Articles:

(i) To advance and assist in mental and physical welfare following suffering among (a) parents occasioned by the death of their child(ren) and (b) other close relatives of such child(ren), normally brothers, sisters and grandparents;
(ii) To promote and support research on parental and sibling grief intended to help to change and improve the quality of support and care provided by health, social care, political and other supporters for grieving parents and siblings.

Our Objectives

TCF is a registered charity and its purposes as set out in the objects contained in our Memorandum and Articles:

(i) To advance and assist in mental and physical welfare following suffering and infirmity among (a) parents occasioned by the death of their child(ren) and (b) other close relatives of such child(ren), normally brothers, sisters and grandparents;
(ii) To promote and support research on parental and sibling grief intended to help to change and improve the quality of support and care provided by health, social care, political and other supporters for grieving parents and siblings.

The impact of child loss

The grief of bereaved parents is devastating and overwhelming. In experiencing the sudden or anticipated death of a beloved son or daughter, parents endure a profound trauma, a loss so out of the natural order and acutely painful it changes their lives forever in a multitude of ways. Both the physical and emotional impact of the death of a child is huge and often longlasting. Parents’ situations and ability to copy with their loss can be exacerbated by the lack of appropriate information or support services - particularly the case for those who have experienced the sudden death of their child outside of a hospital or hospice environment. Parents can struggle to find understanding and appropriate support from those around them as many professionals or family and friends are not aware of the enormity of the impact of child loss on an individual’s mental and physical health.

Emotionally parents are battling with a range of complex and intense emotions – including anger, rage, despair, hopelessness, loneliness, heartbreak, remorse, constant yearning,

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emptiness, guilt and shame. It can be very difficult for parents to manage the intensity of their emotions and to find outlets to express how they feel. Moreover, the death of a son or daughter – whether sudden or anticipated –often results in acute and long-lasting symptoms of posttraumatic stress; just some of these symptoms can include high anxiety, hyper-vigilance, flashbacks, memory loss, feeling disconnected from everything and everyone, inability to sleep, fear of going outside or extreme restlessness, physical pain, despair, hopelessness and wanting to die. For many, the circumstances of loss result in deep trauma which can impact their ability to manage their working lives or to cope on a day to day basis with even simple tasks. In early grief particularly, many bereaved parents find it impossible to engage in or enjoy social activities. They may act out of character and not be able to concentrate on or find much enjoyment in work, studies or their usual leisure activities. They can often feel a need to withdraw from family and the wider community. This can lead to symptoms and feelings of depression and disconnection. In trying to cope with the enormity of their grief, parents can often feel very alone and can struggle with finding purpose and meaning to their days and lives. Following their loss, they can question their identity and doubt their ability to re-engage in life in normal ways again or even how life can ever be meaningful again. For some parents, the loss of their child can lead them to feeling that life is no longer worthwhile or a wish to be with their deceased child.

Physically, grief can be exhausting and can weaken the immune system often leading to physical ill-health or an exacerbation of existing physical or mental health problems. Sleep and appetite can be adversely impacted as well as the ability or motivation to look after their physical or mental health. Parents can struggle to meet their financial commitments or fall behind with their work commitments because they lack the concentration, commitment or motivation to carry out these roles. Many feel unable to work for several months or years following their loss with some parents feeling unable to return to work full time or to return to the same job. Most parents struggle with the concentration needed to manage household bills or other related financial paperwork.

The loss of a child can also have a huge impact on personal relationships, often resulting in relationship breakdowns between a couple, their surviving children or within the wider family. This can exacerbate stress levels which exist already as the result of losing a child. The repercussions of the death of a son or daughter can last for many years and cause huge changes in family dynamics and financial stresses which in turn can create long term rifts and ongoing financial pressures leading to increased levels of depression, anxiety and isolation.

The benefits of peer support

Peer support from fellow bereaved parents or siblings either face-to-face, on the telephone or online is a special and unique kind of support which has the following benefits:

Reduces the social isolation frequently experienced after the death of a child, grandchild or adult sibling
Provides a hugely valuable safe place where parents and their close family can speak honestly about how they are really feeling
Understands, recognizes and normalizes the intensity of early grief and the long-lasting impact of child loss
Encourages and sustains bereaved parents and families – as hearing from others further on in their grief offers comfort and hope for a future without their loved one and demonstrates ways they might survive such a devastating loss

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Continues support, understanding and friendship after the first weeks or months of loss when family or friends’ support may have diminished

Newly bereaved parents often comment that this peer support can be more helpful to them than professional counselling, in that only other bereaved parents can appreciate and understand the trauma, depth and all-encompassing nature of child loss. This helps them to feel understood, validated and more safely held in their grief. Speaking with another bereaved parent who is further along in their loss, means that the newly bereaved can take off the mask’ that they wear every day, and in doing so, they feel better able to share more openly and honestly about how they are feeling without the fear of beingmoved on’, or otherwise made to feel they are failing or ‘stuck’ in their grief. Perhaps most important of all, bereaved parents are able to talk about their precious children without the fear of being `shut down’.

How our work delivers our aims

Thanks to its 250 wonderful volunteers, all who know grief for a child or sibling first-hand and who are trained to listen empathically and care for others, TCF can connect bereaved parents and their close family members to one another in many ways - through conversations one-toone in person or in groups, by telephone, online, through the written word, and via social media. Through such contact with others the bereaved find understanding, a lifeline and can gradually find purpose, resilience and new hope.

We are an inclusive organisation and exist to provide peer-to-peer support, understanding, friendship and hope directly to bereaved families and individuals whose child has died whether as a baby (from one month old), infant, school age child, teenager or adult son or daughter, whether it is a recent loss or one that happened many years ago. The death may have been from any cause, for instance, as a result of a road traffic incident, a short- or longer-term illness such as cancer, sudden unexpected death, an accident in or outside the home, suicide or through drug or alcohol use.

Equal access to our support and services is important to us. TCF has no religious affiliation and offers support to bereaved families irrespective of the age of the child, cause of death, ethnic, social, economic, faith or political backgrounds. We provide support to any family affected by the death of a child, and this includes adoptive parents, step- and blended families, same sex couples and single parent families. We respect the privacy of all those who come to us for support and offer a confidential service.

We review our aims, objectives and activities each year. This review looks at our services and achievements during the 12 months between April 2021 – March 2022.

During the financial year 2020-21 we undertook a series of research projects, reviews, analysis and planning activities to enable the development of a new 3-year strategic plan for the charity designed to ensure that our aims, objectives and activities remain focused on our stated purposes. This plan was approved by the Board of Trustees in early 2021 and implementation began on 1 April 2021. Regular reviews of the strategic plan by a Strategy Committee comprising Trustees and the CEO, as well as the full Trustee Board at Board meetings, ensured that we carefully monitored, accessed progress and made any adjustments needed during the year 1 phase of implementation.

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Summary of services, activities and achievements in the year

Given all the uncertainty due to Covid, the fact that the easing of restrictions was gradual during the year and life was still not fully back to ‘normal’, our charity continued to cope well by staying flexible and making changes and adjustments in delivery of support during such a fluid situation. Indeed, the post Covid period remained full of uncertainties and stop-starts, as restrictions were eased gradually but Covid itself and Covid related fears continued to have an impact.

As a result, while some of our in-person support did start to return (albeit with limited numbers and with restrictions still in place), we continued, during the first 6 months of the year, to provide our support services largely online or via telephone and email. However, from October 2021, we were gradually able to move to a hybrid approach returning to in-person support with online, digital and telephone support services running alongside.

Moreover, due to the uncertainties still remaining in the post-pandemic period, and despite some aspects of the change in our operating environment being incredibly motivating and beneficial for our charity - for instance being able to connect with and support online volunteers and bereaved parents all over the UK - we were unable to develop some of the planned initiatives in the year. However, following the groundwork and preparation undertaken through 3 research studies, a user survey and further analysis in the year 2020 -21, in April 2021 we did begin the implementation of the 3-year strategic plan for the charity for 2021- 2024. To ensure that we could implement the plan we put in place 2 underpinning goals:

(i) To retain current staff and volunteers as far as possible and further build upon TCF's infrastructure and human resources
(ii) To ensure sufficient funds were raised so that the strategic objectives can be met

The plan developed listed our strategic objectives during the 3-year period from April 2021 as:

(i) Increase reach/quantity/scope and quality of services to bereaved parents
(ii) Expand the services of TCF in those regions of the UK which are under-served (iii) Increase the diversity and reach of TCF across all minority and underrepresented groups, both in our service and throughout our organisation
(iv) Improve and develop support for bereaved siblings
(v) Increase support for bereaved parents in specific circumstances (vi) Increase public awareness of TCF

In year 1 of the plan our focus has been on the first 2 building blocks/prerequisites to ensure that in future years we can meet our plan objectives.

Prerequisite goal 1) Retaining current volunteers and staff and further build upon TCF's infrastructure and human resources

For our volunteers and staff, being there for others can have an impact on their own well-being as it is not always possible for individuals in supporting roles to protect themselves from others’ stories of loss and grief, many of which can be very traumatic. We, therefore, continued to

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prioritise and focus on support and self-care for our volunteers . This support has been offered through sharing sessions online – these provide an important and vital opportunity to stay connected with volunteers. The sessions offered information on the impact of the pandemic on bereaved families, enabled our volunteers to hear from guest speakers in the bereavement support sector, and offered a forum to share and discuss experiences and challenges for our volunteers in their roles supporting bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents. We have also used the online environment to offer dedicated training and support to teams of volunteers based throughout the UK who are offering specific forms of peer support – for example, online sharing sessions and supportive meetings for our Helpline volunteer team, those volunteers who are moderating our private Facebook groups, local one to one support contacts and group facilitators, for grief companions and our volunteer team facilitating online support groups for specific circumstances of loss. This move to online meetings and sharing sessions has helped the charity to address some of the geographical barriers and obstacles we have traditionally had in how to engage, motivate and stay in touch with volunteers in outlying areas of UK. It has had a huge positive impact on volunteer morale in feeling a greater sense of belonging and being part of a team and in reducing feelings of isolation especially given the majority of our volunteers support remotely on their own.

Continuing this focus on support for our volunteers, we provided a further two online sessions for volunteers and staff focusing on supporting bereaved family members expressing suicidal ideation . These customised 10 Tools for Talking About Suicide workshops were run in collaboration with the charity, Olly’s Future.

We emphasised the importance, particularly through the challenging period presented by the Covid pandemic, of self-care among our volunteers by offering 4 writing for wellbeing workshops to support and emphasise volunteer and staff self- care, with 4 sessions run online during April and May 2021. Additional opportunities for volunteers to take part in relaxation workshops were offered during autumn 2021, encouraging the team to care for themselves as they care for others. We actively encouraged our volunteers to avail of these opportunities to care for themselves.

In May 2021 we committed to the vital provision of a listening support service for volunteers. Hear For You , which was developed specifically with our peer supporters in mind. As the reach of our charity develops, as our volunteer numbers grow, as bereaved family members find us at an earlier point in their grief, sometimes even on the day of death or before their loved one’s funeral together with the additional trauma of the pandemic having made the normal rituals of grieving and available support problematic, the impact on our volunteers and their own grief and wellbeing has intensified. The Hear For You scheme offered volunteers up to 2 x 50 minute confidential listening support sessions via online video conferencing or telephone free of charge with one of two qualified counsellors, both of whom are also bereaved parents and have volunteer experience within TCF. This ran as a pilot for 6 months and after adaptions, as a result of feedback from users and the counsellors, we confirmed its continued provision in November 2021 and that the number of sessions per volunteer, per issue could be increased to 3. This is now an established feature of support for volunteers.

What our volunteers say…

“I really appreciate the care TCF show for volunteers. One would think that it is obvious that volunteers are important and need to be cared for and nurtured. Unfortunately I know, from personal experience, that a number of charities and organisations don't look after their staff and volunteers. Your care is very much appreciated and enables me to continue supporting others.”

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To support the existing staff team, a committee of Trustees was appointed in October 2021 to focus on human resource issues. Planning for well-being and mental health support for the staff team was also started. Staff during this year were working partly in the office and partly remotely. Our team were affected by Covid themselves, sometimes more than once, resulting in additional challenges for charity operations and in fostering of a collaborative team-based environment.

A key focus for the year was the appointment of additional staff identified in the strategic plan to build on the charity’s infrastructure. In October 2021, Karolina Zwierzyk joined the team as Office Manager , with responsibility for efficiency and productivity of all the charity’s admin functions. She also took on responsibility, with Trustee adviser Guy Paton, for the research and implementation of a new (Customer Relationship Management system (CRM) to replace our existing aging and increasingly creaking Access database. The spec and supplier for a new CRM was finalised and approved by Trustees in March 2022.

Prerequisite goal 2) Ensuring sufficient funds were raised so that the strategic objectives can be met

A funding plan for the years 2021-23 was developed and projections made beyond 2023 to include bids for larger single year donations from grant making bodies, trusts and foundations for specific projects as well as a focus on developing multi-year funding where possible. To achieve this, Stephen Armstrong , our Head of Fundraising, increased his hours to 4 days per week from April 2021.

As in person fundraising events began to resume after the pandemic from Autumn/Winter 2021/22, our funding plan also included developing and increasing income from challenge events and through community fundraising. To meet this aim, Jenny King joined our staff team in September 2021 as Events and Community Fundraiser . Her brief was to increase funding from challenge events and community sources and also to develop an annual community fundraising campaign in which all members and supporters of the charity could get involved.

OUR SERVICES

During 2021 – 22 and in year 1 of the strategic plan, we continued to provide peer support to bereaved parents and their families through our range of services.

National Helpline

Approximately 900 calls and 500 email requests for support were received by our Helpline during the period of this report, a small decrease on pre-pandemic periods. Activity on our Helpline during this period reflected the national and global situation with the coronavirus pandemic, based on what we were hearing from regular networking with other Helplines and charities during this time. In particular, we found call volumes tended to be significantly lower during those periods when a new lockdown was announced or when we were emerging from a period of lockdown. As people adjusted to each lockdown, call volumes would increase again. Call volumes increased most from September 2021 onwards. Email requests for support also started to increase from this time.

The majority of our calls continued to be from bereaved parents, particularly mothers. Calls and emails from professionals were significantly lower than usual during the early lockdown

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but from September 2021 onwards, there was a noticeable increase from mental health teams, GPs, and counsellors. Specifically, more referrals were being received from recently created mental health support roles such as social prescribers and wellbeing advisors. GP practices often refer their patients to these services who in turn contacted our charity to find out more about our peer support and referral process for patients experiencing child bereavement.

Our Helpline comprised 24 committed volunteers with 2 new volunteers joining the team in September 2021. Two sessions were held to share best practice and offer support to our Helpline team during a challenging year.

What parents say…

“Without TCF, I'm not sure where I would have found the strength to carry on... I can't thank you all enough for the work you do.”

In person and online supportive events

Throughout the year we continued to provide online support groups for parents in specific circumstances, for instance loss to suicide, loss to cancer, bereaved fathers, loss of a baby or very young child, or a school age child, an older adult child (35 years+), for those parents who have lost their only child or all their children. We also continued monthly groups for bereaved adult siblings. In the year we added new online groups for lone parents, loss to road traffic incident, bereavement by a sudden accident, parents located in Northern Ireland and for parents bereaved abroad. We also began to offer regular group support for parents bereaved by Covid or during the pandemic . All online groups were facilitated by trained volunteers and have allowed bereaved parents from all over the UK from Land’s End to John O’Groats to connect with others online similarly bereaved in a way that would not have been possible in person. During the year we had over 30 volunteers involved in delivering these online support groups. We use feedback from participants in each session to improve facilitation and the support offered.

A total of 81 online support groups for parents in specific circumstances or bereaved adult siblings were run during the period of this report (a slight increase on the previous year). These online groups have continued to help our charity address some of the geographical obstacles which the bereaved encounter in accessing peer support in isolated or outlying areas of the UK where there is not always much in the way of local, on-the-ground services.

What parents and siblings say…

“I always leave a meeting feeling better and not so alone. the facilitators are excellent and so very kind and gentle. I am always very grateful to them for their time and for sharing. It helps to know I have a place I can go where I can cry and express myself and know everyone really understands and doesn't judge me. “

Following a review of resourcing, we developed a hybrid approach to in-person and online support. So during the autumn of 2021, as pandemic restrictions started to be lifted, we offered a series of bereavement support days particularly for parents in early bereavement. These were held in Glasgow (September 2021), Derbyshire (October 2021), Hampshire (October 2021) and Belfast (October 2021). An additional support day for parents bereaved by suicide or substance use was held in Glasgow in March 2022.

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Towards the end of the report period, after a break of 2 years due to the pandemic, we restarted our 2 day weekend retreats with a supportive event for parents in early bereavement (under 3 years bereaved) held near Bath, Somerset in February 2022.

What parents say…

“Your team have given us so much support. Thank you for creating such a caring and supportive platform for all the families out there that are going through such heart break and loss”.

Further online support

Our 11 moderated, confidential online Facebook groups focusing on different aspects of loss continued throughout the period of this report, including for parents bereaved through cancer or long-term illness, by suicide, through drugs or alcohol, the loss of a baby or very young child, parents whose only child or all their children have died, adult bereaved siblings, and more. The need to connect with other bereaved parents and to share grief and loss together continued during this time as restrictions continued in the first half of the year. In response to demand, a new private Facebook group was set up for parents bereaved of a school age child (age 5-16 years).

We continued to host online talks and presentations by bereaved parents and siblings offering personal reflections on parental and sibling loss. These have all been well attended, with 150+ attendees at each. Speakers have included Sangeeta Mahajan, Jane Oundjian MBE and Joanne Cacciatore. We also held an Inquests Information Evening, with speakers Andrew Miller KC and solicitor Sefton Kwasnik. Each talk was recorded and uploaded online, building up a resource library of helpful and supportive videos which are being accessed by many in the weeks and months following the live events.

We held our annual online candle lighting remembrance event in December 2021 as part of the TCF Worldwide Candle Lighting event. 300 bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents came together to remember their loved ones during this particularly difficult time of year for the bereaved and a further 3500 viewed the livestream of the event. The event was also available on The Compassionate Friends UK YouTube channel.

What parents say..’

“What a wonderful and remarkable job this charity does in providing comfort to bereaved parents in a real time of need”

Grief Companion Scheme

In its second year of operation, the Grief Companion Scheme has continued to be managed and developed by Shirley Gower. Our dedicated volunteer grief companions offered one-toone peer befriending and support to over 180 newly bereaved parents, particularly in areas of the country which are not covered by an existing TCF local one to one support contact or support group.

This year we have extended the Scheme to include some parents who may have a TCF local contact and/or support group close by, but where this existing support is unsuitable for some reason (e.g., social anxiety, inability to attend due to frailty, ill health disabilities or transport or financial constraints restricting ability to travel). Many newly bereaved parents can also understandably find it hard to cope with the details of others’ losses in a support group setting

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or, depending on the circumstances of their loss, may have a strong need to share their `story’ but to just one person rather than a whole group of parents. This can make 1:1 support more appropriate for early loss in some situations. Often this 1-1 support can be put in place relatively quickly compared to many other services, and is in place for longer (up to 12 months).

With the growth in the Scheme over the year, in January 2022 Suzanne Cannon was appointed part time administrator for the Scheme. The extra resource has made possible the introduction of a review and evaluation process (once a match is underway, at a 6–8-week review, 6 month follow up with Hear for You counsellor (new), 12 month catch up and evaluation – the latter providing feedback to continue to improve and develop the experience of both the newly bereaved parents and the volunteer companions).

Local 1-1 support and groups

Covid restrictions forced the closure of all of our in person support for much of 2021. However, during the last few months of 2021, the majority of local support groups resumed in-person monthly meetings and local support contacts began to meet newly bereaved parents in person once again. This return to in-person support varied across the country based on the circumstances of each group, the requirements of the venue they were using as well as the circumstances and vulnerabilities of individual volunteers and those they were supporting. Volunteer sharing sessions continued to be offered online, allowing volunteers from around the UK to share best practice, find support from one another and the staff team and discuss some of the challenges they faced resuming in-person support. We continued to offer group facilitation and local support training online. Sessions were run over 6 half day online training workshops during the course of the year and were attended by an average of 10 volunteers each session. Access was offered to these training opportunities to professionals and volunteers in other organisations offering bereavement support. The year saw the development of specific online training and induction for new local support contacts, who offer one to one support to a range of parents in their local area.

Informal support

With restrictions lifting, we were able to begin and develop our informal walks for bereaved parents and siblings. The walks programme restarted in London in May 2021 in accordance with Covid related government guidance at that time in June Terry Ahern, facilitator of the London TCF walks programme, ran an online talk and workshop. This workshop offered volunteers interested in offering walks to bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents around the country, the basics and tips for leading a successful TCF walk. The talk was well attended and resulted in a number of new volunteers coming forward to offer to facilitate walks. This in turn led the start of a varied programme of walks throughout the UK, which began in earnest in spring 2022.

What parents say…

“These walks are a powerful healing experience for me. You all keep me going in my pain and grief”.

Support for specific circumstances of loss

We continued to develop specific support for specialist groups of the bereaved – for example, for those with no surviving children (through a quarterly newsletter, monthly online support group); bereaved siblings (a newsletter written by bereaved adult siblings for this group

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printed in hardcopy but also distributed digitally and a monthly online support group); those bereaved by suicide or substance use (monthly online support groups for both types of loss, and a national supporter team for parents bereaved by suicide offering initial peer support covering the UK geographically, a bereavement support day in Glasgow; informal walks for parents bereaved by suicide; support groups for parents bereaved by suicide in London (in person and online), Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow). A small grandparent supporter team began to meet regularly during the period of this report. A bereavement support information pack continued to be sent to over 1000 parents and their families seeking support and information after child loss. The pack was always customised to support parents and families in different circumstances of loss.

What parents say…

“A big thank you for the information pack you sent me; it gives me a lot of comfort knowing there is such genuine support out there”.

Publications, newsletters and leaflets

We published over 50 leaflets and fact sheets offering information and suggestions to bereaved parents and families, as well as professionals and other supporters of bereaved families. These were downloaded over 40,000 times and distributed with both digital and physical information packs. These publications are unique in that they are written by bereaved parents and siblings. As well as updates of existing publications, new leaflets were published including Grieving The death of a twin child, Grieving for our child who experienced mental health problems, When your child has died abroad, Helping parents when their child dies at university, and Coping with Christmas. In December 2021, we published a well-received more visual, inclusive leaflet – My child has died. How do I cope? Designed to be an easier read publication, it is more accessible to parents in the first few raw weeks or months of loss and to those where English is not a first language.

“The leaflet is beautifully written, as I knew it would be, and full of quiet wisdom. Since we lost our son I have benefited hugely from the resources provided by TCF”

Over 5,000 supportive magazines and newsletters were sent to bereaved parents and their families, including specific supportive publications for bereaved adult siblings and parents who have experienced the loss of their only child or children.

In the latter half of the year, once the Covid limitations were lifted, our library of 1,000 books and resources on all aspects of bereavement resumed its unique service and our dedicated volunteer librarian, Mary Hartley, restarted providing a personalised choice of titles to support the bereaved. In late 2021, our library of books was moved from our Kilburn office to enable a more efficient service to be offered. Regular email and printed news continued to extend our reach to bereaved families and professionals, keeping both groups in touch with news from our charity and the support available.

In November, we published an anthology of poems compiled by bereaved father, David Bransbury. Forget-Me-Not Poems: A Collection of Poetry Honouring Children Gone Too Soon contained 100 poems written by bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents, together with photos of their loved ones. Many of the poems have been sponsored and together with sales of the book raised funds for and awareness of our charity.

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Digital communications and website re-launch

Early in the year a refresh and update to our website was undertaken, going live in late April 2021. Key changes included easier user-navigation, modernised design, more white space and images reflecting we are a ‘people’ charity. We created a more supportive, inclusive, welcoming and active site, giving more prominence to Helpline and Donate buttons, providing specific portals for those looking for support or information e.g. specifically for bereaved parents, or for siblings, professionals, supporter/fundraisers, volunteers – containing all the pages relevant to an individual’s circumstances and relationship with TCF. A new section for news, guest blogs, support videos was created, as well as the ability to create an In Memory Fund for a child or loved one.

We continued to lodge supportive videos of online talks, events, and sharing sessions for our members and also volunteers on our YouTube channel. Our social media presence continued to build throughout the year on Facebook, Twitter and increasingly on Instagram. We know that many bereaved parents and their families regularly access support and information from our social media posts. We continued to live stream online talks by inspiring speakers. Each live stream reached over 3000 viewers.

National Bereaved Parents Day took place on 3 July raising awareness of all parents who have lost a child of any age and any cause. Collaborating with other child loss charities, we focused on the theme # keepingtheirmemoryalive sharing some of the inspiring ways parents honour and remember their children through our website, via a video montage and via social media. The video on Facebook was viewed over 2,000 times.

Collaboration and networking

We continued to collaborate with other charities and organisations in the field of bereavement support. TCF were represented and played a full part on the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Bereavement Care and in the National Bereavement Alliance (NBA).

TCF are also members of the Support After Suicide Partnership and attend Members Meetings regularly to represent the views of parents and siblings bereaved by suicide. TCF also attended the virtual Suicide Bereavement UK International Conference in September 2021. We gave support to the third National Grief Awareness Week (December 2021). We participated in networking meetings with other bereavement organisations across Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Our members and volunteers have spoken about child death and supporting bereaved parents and their families to a number of organisations and professionals in a range of settings during the year, for example, the Coroners E-Conference, Demystifying Death Week in Scotland, Missing People charity meeting, training for pediatric hospital staff across Surrey. Cruse volunteer meetings, and the newly formed UK Commission on Bereavement.

Our members have participated in a range of research studies during the year, including a study looking at the emotional care of parents who have cared for and lost a child with a life limiting illness (University of Bristol); bereaved by Covid study (University of Cardiff), a study looking at the meaning and implication of participation by bereaved people in inquests (Institute from Crime and Justice Policy Research at Birkbeck, University of London and Centre for

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TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Death and Society (University of Bath)and a work and bereavement study (University of Sheffield).

Future Plans

We will continue our focus on the provision of high-quality peer-to-peer support to parents and grandparents bereaved of a child or grandchild throughout the UK with reference to our strategic aims. We will do this through a range of telephone, in person and online support and through the provision of high quality administrative and mentoring support from our staff team to those we support, both our volunteers and the bereaved public. We will also continue to build our support for bereaved adult siblings and will raise awareness within the community of bereaved, as well as the general public, of peer support offered by The Compassionate Friends. Our mission to educate around the devastating impact and heartbreak that follows the death of a child will also go on.

Following the first year of the implementation of our 3 year strategic plan 2021- 2024 we will continue to review progress regularly in years 2 and 3 and make changes as our operating and funding environment changes.

We will continue to prioritise self-care, resilience building and support for our volunteers , all of whom offer the peer support and empathy, which is at the heart of the bereavement support services provided by TCF. If our volunteers are well - supported they will continue to offer high quality support to bereaved parents and other family members and we will be able to retain our volunteer team members for longer. We will do this by continuing to offer high quality initial and ongoing training for all teams of volunteers. We will offer support by an increased staff team, focused on volunteer management, co-ordination support and guidance. We will continue to fund the Hear For You listening support service for all volunteers, offering our 250 volunteers in the UK a confidential place where they can discuss and share any concerns or issues around their volunteering roles at TCF, their grief or wellbeing. We will continue to bring our volunteers together regularly for support and sharing of best practice, both online and in person.

We will continue to return to a programme of in-person weekend retreats and support days , which will include general gatherings organised by location (e.g. Scottish gathering, UK National gathering) as well as targeted retreats for specific causes of death or life circumstances – for example, a retreat for parents in very early bereavement, for parents who have lost their only child/children, for those parents bereaved by suicide or substance use, and for bereaved adult siblings. We will also plan a number of one-day supportive events around the UK for bereaved parents. We will continue to encourage and support informal events for bereaved parents and siblings, including our series of walks, lunches, teas and informal get-togethers. These can be an important first step for the newly bereaved to start to engage with our peer support services. We will continue to recruit more walk facilitators and volunteers creating more informal events.

We will establish a hybrid model of support which will utilise the very best of online support – with the advantage that parents and other family members can access support wherever they are located in the UK – together with traditional in-person support. We will continue to review the balance of each as demand and resources allow.

We will continue to develop and grow the Grief Companion Scheme – funded by the National Lottery - reaching areas of the country where there is little local support and helping to further

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TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

reduce the isolation and lack of support experienced by many bereaved parents. Managed by our Grief Companion Coordinator, Shirley Gower, the Scheme will continue to offer support to newly bereaved parents (in the first 2 years of their loss) given by bereaved parents who are at least 3 years past their own loss. The support of volunteer grief companions will continue to be a priority for the Coordinator. With an assistant now supporting the scheme, it will be possible to more effectively monitor and evaluate the benefits of grief companion support and make changes where required. Crucially for the continuation of the scheme, we will begin to plan for a renewal or a new source of funding after the multi-year funding comes to an end in Spring 2023.

We will continue the development of ‘ teams’ of supporters to ensure that we can target support for specific groups of the bereaved. Following the establishment of the bereaved by suicide supporter team, who offer initial support to parents bereaved by suicide, we will continue to work to establish similar supporters for bereaved grandparents, for parents with no surviving children, and for parents bereaved of a child with complex needs or disabilities. We are reliant on volunteers who have themselves experienced these specific losses to come forward to train and then support as members of these national teams. However, this model continues to offer us the best way to ensure the volunteers in each team receive excellent training, support and mentoring from staff and through contact, discussion and sharing with their team members.

We will continue to develop TCF’s infrastructure , recruiting additional key staff to build our capacities to support and to increase public knowledge about our charity. Key posts will be a volunteer support assistant, to support the work of Ruth Mercier Volunteer and Helpline manager, and a communications professional to develop and implement a communications strategy to reach out to key stakeholders. As our staff team grows we will need to strengthen our HR policies and procedures and prioritise support and wellbeing for all TCF employees.

We will continue to develop the efficiency, productivity and capabilities of our national office and the operations of our charity. With the help of our Trustee Adviser, Guy Paton, we will implement a new CRM (database) offering the best support to the membership, fundraising, volunteer management, supportive events, communications and finance functions of the charity.

We will undertake a gap analysis to establish where TCF currently has more limited reach for example, Wales and Northern England. We will initiate analysis to better understand the diversity and reach of TCF across minority and under-represented groups, including bereaved fathers, LGBT communities and ethnic minorities. We will ensure we have an equality, diversity and inclusion policy in place and regularly review and update all our policies and procedures. We will continue to build our peer support and reach in the regions of the UK and across diverse communities .

We will increase peer support for adult (18 years+) bereaved siblings by developing a team of sibling volunteers who will run online and in-person support groups for siblings. We will return to in person supportive events, including overnight retreats and support days for bereaved siblings. Our newsletter for bereaved siblings will continue to be published in print and digitally 4 times a year, employing volunteer guest editors. Over the period of the plan, we hope to appoint a Sibling Coordinator to improve recruitment and support of sibling volunteers and develop our peer support services for adult bereaved siblings.

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TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

We will target existing and new funders to develop and diversify our income streams – including looking for larger grants and for multi-year funding. We will take advantage of the reinstatement of challenge and community events after the pandemic and the appointment of our Events & Community Fundraiser to focus on developing funding from the stewardship of the many parents, siblings, grandparents and other supporters who take part in challenges and events to benefit TCF financially. We will plan and run an annual community fundraising campaign which will appeal to our varied membership. We will continue to work to increase our charity’s funding from digital income streams.

Over the period of the plan, we will work to increase the profile and awareness of TCF within identified target groups who come into contact with bereaved parents and adult siblings and may be able to signpost e.g. educational establishments, police, coroners, funeral directors, hospitals, hospices, GPs, other healthcare professionals, social services, faith personnel, donors, other bereaved parents, well-known people/celebrities who may have been affected by child bereavement. As part of our plan, we hope to appoint a communications specialist to develop a detailed and effective comms strategy to target these groups and increase our reach to bereaved parents and their families throughout the UK.

We will continue to regularly survey all TCF users to monitor satisfaction and develop and change our services where necessary.

Financial Review

The Trustees are responsible for the finances of the Charity. They monitor the finances of TCF by receiving a financial report at each Trustee meeting and by adopting a budget for each financial year.

The Trustees monitor three main aspects of the charity’s finances

The income from various sources
The expenses
The reserves

Income

The income of the charity comes from four main sources as follows:

Membership donations and fees
The proceeds from fundraising events and donations from Friends of TCF
Securing grants and donations from foundations and trusts
Fees in respect of gathering and retreats

Unrestricted income can be spent on TCF’S general charitable purposes as set out in the budget for the year.

Restricted income can only be spent on particular purposes/projects as specified by the donor.

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

During the year the total income of the Charity was £459,980 (2021: £364,068). The split between Unrestricted and Restricted Funds received in the year is:

Unrestricted £256,237 (2021: £312,484) Restricted £203,743 (2021: £ 51,584)

Expenditure

During the year the charity spent £378,221 (2021: £288,010). The split between Unrestricted and Restricted Fund expenditure during the year is :

Unrestricted £211,781 (2021: £248,113) Restricted £166,440 (2021: £ 39,897)

As the year progressed, following the pause in normal activities due to Covid, the Charity was able to resume its planned programme of growth and support, and adapt to changes such as the continued use of online support which was very much appreciated by participants when first introduced and which has become part of the ongoing support work now offered by TCF. In the event, expenditure did not exceed income for the year and a surplus was added to reserves.

Reserves

During the year TCF’s income of £459,980 exceeded expenditure of £378,221 by £81,759.

The surplus increased the funds as follows :

Unrestricted funds £45,969 Total funds at 31 March 22 £421,488 Restricted funds £35,790 Total funds at 31 March 22 £91,813

The Trustees give careful consideration to the level of reserves. The Charity’s policy on reserves is set out as follows:

“The Trustees have, after considering the guidance issues by the Charities’ Commission, established a policy that sufficient general funds should be held to enable the activities of TCF to continue for a minimum of six months taking into account:

(i) The forecast expenditure of running the charity allowing for planned increases or decreases in ongoing expenses
(ii) The current sources of income and the heavy reliance on one off donations and fundraising events
(iii) A review of the risks facing the charity, particularly those which would lead to a reduction in the level or reach of our services

The monthly income of the Charity is relatively volatile and so the Unrestricted funds will fluctuate from month to month. The Trustees would consider the Unrestricted funds to be excessive only if they were persistently above a level that would allow the activities of TCF to continue for twelve months without any source of income. In this case, the Trustees would determine how any excess Unrestricted funds should be spent to meet the aims and objectives

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TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

of the charity. The level of Unrestricted funds is reviewed at least once a quarter. This policy is reviewed at least once every financial year.

The free reserves at 31 March 2022 were £421,488 and fall within the range set out above.

The Restricted funds balance at 31 March 2022 was £91,813; these funds can only be spent on projects for which the original fund application was made.

The anticipated draw down of Unrestricted reserves in support of the planned expansion of activities (as reported in 2020/21) did not materialise due to the continuing effects of Covid and changes in the type of support work undertaken during the year. Recruitment of staff detailed in year 1 of the Strategic Plan, for one post, was postponed until 2022-23. However, as the implementation of the Strategic Plan continues, Trustees will closely monitor expenditure to ensure that expenditure of reserves does not impact the policy of maintaining a balance which allows the charity to continue its activities for six months.

The Trustees are responsible for investing the reserves of TCF. In light of the periodic need to draw on the funds at short notice the Trustees have decided to keep the reserves on bank deposit.

Structure, Governance and Management

The Compassionate Friends (TCF) was founded in 1969 in Coventry and is governed by its Memorandum & Articles of Association as a Company, limited by guarantee registered in England & Wales. The organisation was based in Kilburn, London, throughout the year with a network of volunteers throughout the United Kingdom.

The Board of TCF is comprised of between six and twelve elected Trustees. An Elected Trustee must be a Member and has to be nominated by a donating TCF Member and provide a short CV, details of their experience within TCF and a personal statement. Candidates are supplied with information on the responsibilities of a Trustee prior to election and after election they are supplied with further charity guidance booklets and details of relevant external information and training days on charity governance and management. Elected Trustees serve for three years (extendable to three years and three months). Elections are held annually and by digital and postal vote; if the number of vacancies for elected Trustees exceeds the number of nominated candidates, then the candidates are deemed to have been elected and there is no need for a vote. No elected Trustee can be in office for longer than three terms of 3 years, either served consecutively or with breaks. The chair can only serve for a maximum of 3 years.

Members of the Charity and external candidates with the required knowledge and skills needed on the Board of Trustees are also invited to apply to join as a co-opted Trustee. In addition, Trustee Advisors can be invited to join the Board for varying short periods of time in order to give the Board specialist advice or help.

All strategic direction and policy are determined by the Board of Trustees and monitored at regular Board meetings and against an annual budget.

All key decisions regarding policy, strategy, finance, governance and major pastoral issues, are taken by the Board of Trustees. Decisions are reached by a majority vote of Trustees, either by voting at the regular Board meetings (absent Trustees are regarded as bound by the majority votes of all Trustees present) or through Board members voting by email. Certain

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TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

decisions regarding the pastoral work, volunteer recruitment, training and support are delegated to the CEO and operations team but need to be ratified by the Board before they can be implemented. Key decisions regarding office management are taken by the CEO in close consultation with the Chair of Trustees and, where appropriate, the Board of Trustees.

In making arrangements for setting pay and remuneration for the charity’s key management personnel, the Trustees always bear in mind rates of pay for equivalent roles in charities of comparable size. In setting the pay for the Chief Executive, the Trustees considered the requirements for the role and pay for comparable roles in similarly sized charities. The Trustees will review the pay of the Chief Executive at least once a year.

Risk Assessment Policy

The Trustees regularly review and update identified major risks that might face the charity and its ability to function in pursuit of its charitable objectives, as a result of loss of reputation caused by inappropriate guidance being given to our beneficiaries, or an inability to maintain its current level of activities through lack of funding. In addition, risks associated with each identifiable project are assessed before it is undertaken.

In general terms, the Trustees regularly consider any areas of TCF operations where there is a perceived risk to the charity and appropriate action is taken to manage any risks that are identified.

The Trustees identified the principal risks facing the charity: the risk of inadequate future funding; the possible loss of current staff; the risk of losing volunteers.

The Trustees adopted the following plans and strategies for their mitigation; expanding the hours worked of the experienced fundraiser and, in September 2021, appointing a new Events and Community Fundraiser; a series of initiatives to retain and support staff are included as part of the 3-year strategic plan; a series of initiatives to support and train volunteers were included in the 3 -year strategic plan.

Data Protection/Privacy Policy

The Compassionate Friends is committed to protecting people’s personal information. Our Privacy Policy (available to view and download from our website) sets out the basis on which we process any personal information collected or provided to us.

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Trustees’ Responsibilities

The trustees (who are also directors of The Compassionate Friends for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report (incorporating the strategic report and directors’ report) and the financial statements in accordance with 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 Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
make judgments and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.

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

Approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on their behalf by:

Andrew Miller KC, Chair of Trustees

Date: ………………………...

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

REFERENCE & ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

The Trustee Board

Chair : Andrew Miller KC

Vice- Chair : Susan Hughes

Company Secretary: George Burn

Other Trustees

Maria Ahern Margaret Brearley (co-opted) Ken Barclay Gina Claye Claire Coveney (co-opted) Gill Hardy Jen Hughes Melian Mansfield Sheila Phillips Nisha Shah Nigel Taylor (co-opted) Warren Weiss

Trustee Advisers Guy Paton

Chief Executive Carolyn Brice

Registered Office Kilburn Grange Priory Park Road London NW6 7UJ

Independent Examiner

Joshua Kingston, BSc., ACA Burton Sweet Limited The Clock Tower 5 Farleigh Court Old Weston Road Flax Bourton Bristol BS48 1UR

Bankers

CAF Bank Limited 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill West Malling Kent ME19 4JQ

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2022.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity’s trustees of the Company (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (‘the 2006 Act’).

Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the Company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your charity’s accounts as carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’). In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5) (b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner’s statement

Since the Company’s gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the 2011 Act. I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, which is one of the listed bodies.

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

accounting records were not kept in respect of the Company as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or
the accounts do not accord with those records; or
the accounts do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
the accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).

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

Joshua Kingston BSc., ACA Burton Sweet Limited The Clock Tower 5 Farleigh Court Old Weston Road Flax Bourton Bristol BS48 1UR Date: ……………………..

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT) YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Unrestricted Funds Note £ Income from: Donations 2 121,913 Charitable activities 3 68,831 Other trading activities 4 65,436 Investments 5 57 Total income 256,237 Expenditure on: Raising funds 6 64,400 Charitable activities 7 147,381 Total expenditure 211,781 Net income/(expenditure) 10 44,456 Transfers between funds 1,513 Net movement in funds 45,969 Total funds brought forward 17 375,519 Total funds carried forward 17 421,488	Restricted Funds £ 186,437 15,854 1,438 14	Total Funds 2022 £ 308,350 84,685 66,874 71	Total Funds 2021 £ 302,343 25,711 35,891 123
256,237	203,743	459,980	364,068
64,400 147,381	- 166,440	64,400 313,821	70,091 217,919
211,781	166,440	378,221	288,010
44,456 1,513	37,303 (1,513)	81,759 -	76,058 -
45,969 375,519	35,790 56,023	81,759 431,542	76,058 355,484
421,488	91,813	513,301	431,542

The Charity has no recognised gains or losses other than the results for the period as set out above. All of the activities of the charity are classed as continuing

The comparative Statement of Financial Activities is shown in note 12.

The notes on pages 24 to 35 form part of these financial statements

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

BALANCE SHEET

AS AT 31 MARCH 2022

Note Fixed assets Tangible fixed assets 13 Current assets Debtors 14 Cash at bank and in hand Creditors : Amounts falling due within one year 15 Net current assets Net assets Funds Restricted funds 18 Unrestricted funds 18 Total funds	2022 £ - 45,570 476,530 522,100 (8,799) 513,301 513,301 91,813 421,488 513,301	2021 £ - 44,229 401,138
		445,367 (13,825)
		431,542
		431,542
		56,023 375,519
		431,542

For the year ending 31 March 2022 the company was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

(i) The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476,
(ii) The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts.

These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.

These financial statements were approved by the trustees on…........................ and are signed on their behalf by:

Andrew Miller KC

Company Number 04029535

The notes on pages 24 to 35 form part of these financial statements

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

1 Accounting policies

a) Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the historical cost convention and in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued in October 2019 and the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Charities Act 2011 (or Companies Act 2006) and UK Generally Accepted Practice as it applies from 1 January 2019.

The charity is a public benefit entity as defined by FRS102.

The accounts have been prepared under the going concern concept, as the trustees believe this to be the most appropriate as is it considered that there are no material uncertainties with respect to the effects of Covid-19.

b) Income

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

c) Grants

Grants, including grants for fixed assets, are recognised within the accounts as they become receivable. Grants received in the accounting period in respect of future accounting periods are deferred until those periods.

d) Expenditure

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.

Direct costs, including directly attributable salaries, are allocated on an actual basis to the activities. Support costs are allocated over the activities based on the estimated percentages of cost used.

Governance costs include the costs of meeting constitutional and statutory requirements and include costs associated with the strategic management of the charity’s activities. They have been included in support costs.

e) Fixed assets

Expenditure on assets with an estimated economic life of more than twelve months and a cost of more than £2,000 are capitalised.

Depreciation is calculated so as to write off the cost of an asset, less its estimated residual value, over the useful economic life of that asset as follows:

Fixtures, Fittings and equipment

25% straight line

f) Debtors

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

g) Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and in hand includes cash and short-term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

h) Creditors

Creditors are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts received.

i) Operating leases

Rentals applicable to operating lease agreements where substantially all of the benefits and risks of ownership remain with the lessor are charged against profits on a straight-line basis over the period of the lease.

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

1 Accounting policies (continued)

j) Unrestricted funds

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objects at the discretion of the trustees.

Unrestricted designated funds have been set aside by the trustees out of unrestricted general funds for specific future purposes or projects.

k) Restricted funds

Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes. Expenditure which meets these criteria is charged to the fund, together with a fair allocation of management and support costs. Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.

2 Donations

Unrestricted Funds £ Donations and legacies 121,913 121,913 Prior year comparative Unrestricted Funds £ Donations and legacies 251,771 Grants receivable - 251,771	Restricted Funds £ 186,437	Total Funds 2022 £ 308,350
121,913	186,437	308,350
Unrestricted Funds £ 251,771 -	Restricted Funds £ 46,672 3,900	Total Funds 2021 £ 298,443 3,900
251,771	50,572	302,343

Donations received from trustees and related parties during the year were £2,140 (2021: £1,646).

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

3 Income from: Charitable activities

Unrestricted Funds £ Core activities Membership subscriptions 22,161 Other activities 23,249 Events 23,421 68,831 Prior year comparative Unrestricted Funds £ Core activities Membership subscriptions 23,311 Other activities 2,100 Events - 25,411	Restricted Funds £ - - 15,854	Total Funds 2022 £ 22,161 23,249 39,275
68,831	15,854	84,685
Unrestricted Funds £ 23,311 2,100 -	Restricted Funds £ - - 300	Total Funds 2021 £ 23,311 2,100 300
25,411	300	25,711

Prior year comparative

4 Income from: Other trading activities

Unrestricted Funds £ Fundraising activities 60,454 Trading income 4,982 65,436 Prior year comparative Unrestricted Funds £ Fundraising activities 29,216 Trading income 5,963 35,179	Restricted Funds £ 1,438 -	Total Funds 2022 £ 61,892 4,982
65,436	1,438	66,874
Unrestricted Funds £ 29,216 5,963	Restricted Funds £ 712 -	Total Funds 2021 £ 29,928 5,963
35,179	712	35,891

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

5 Investment income

Unrestricted Funds £ Bank interest receivable 57 57 Prior year comparative Unrestricted Funds £ Bank interest receivable 123 123 Expenditure on: Raising funds Activities undertaken directly £ Sale of goods 984 Fundraising costs 53,450 54,434 Prior year comparative Activities undertaken directly £ Sale of goods 2,770 Fundraising costs 58,731 61,501	Restricted Funds £ 14	Total Funds 2022 £ 71
57	14	71
Unrestricted Funds £ 123	Restricted Funds £ -	Total Funds 2021 £ 123
123	-	123
Activities undertaken directly £ 984 53,450	Support Costs (Note 8) £ - 9,966	Total 2022 £ 984 63,416
54,434	9,966	64,400
Activities undertaken directly £ 2,770 58,731	Support Costs (Note 8) £ - 8,590	Total 2021 £ 2,770 67,321
61,501	8,590	70,091

6 Expenditure on: Raising funds

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

7 Expenditure on: Charitable activities

Core activities Helpline Library Gathering and events Other pastoral activities	Activities undertaken directly £ 20,909 1,953 58,664 159,209	Support Costs (Note 8) £ 4,983 831 32,390 34,882	Total 2022 £ 25,892 2,784 91,054 194,091
	240,735	73,086	313,821

Prior year comparative

Core activities Helpline Library Gathering and events Other pastoral activities	Activities undertaken directly £ 16,704 1,413 12,595 124,205	Support Costs (Note 8) £ 4,296 715 27,921 30,070	Total 2021 £ 21,000 2,128 40,516 154,275
	154,917	63,002	217,919

8 Support costs

Premises costs £ 747 125 4,858 5,232	Office expenses £ 2,869 478 18,646 20,080	Other Expenses £ 1,367 228 8,886 9,570	Total £ 4,983 831 32,390 34,882
10,962	42,073	20,051	73,086
1,495	5,737	2,734	9,966
12,457	47,810	22,785	83,052
13,535	34,429	23,628	71,592

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

8 Support costs (continued)

Prior year comparative

Premises costs £ 812 135 5,279 5,685	Office expenses £ 2,066 344 13,427 14,461	Other Expenses £ 1,418 236 9,215 9,924	Total £ 4,296 715 27,921 30,070
11,911	30,298	20,793	63,002
1,624	4,131	2,835	8,590
13,535	34,429	23,628	71,592

Support costs have been allocated to activities based on estimated percentages of costs used. Governance costs of £23,629 (2021: £23,629) have been included in support costs.

9 Staff costs and numbers

The aggregate payroll costs were:

Wages and salaries Social security costs Pension costs	2022 £ 187,302 11,380 3,382	2021 £ 130,698 7,404 2,840
	202,064	140,942

No employee received emoluments of more than £60,000. Benefits paid to key management personnel of the charity during the year were £54,603 (2021: £49,993).

The average number of staff employed by the charity during the financial year amounted to:

	2022	2021
	No	No
Pastoral and befriending services	9	6

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

10 Net income/(expenditure)

Operating surplus/(deficit) is stated after charging:

Depreciation Independent examiner's fees Trustees' expenses Travel (1 trustee, 2021: No trustees)	2022 £ - 3,063 132	2021 £ 145 2,917 -

11 Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

12 Comparative Statement of Financial Activities

Unrestricted Funds £ Income from: Donations 251,771 Charitable activities 25,411 Other trading activities 35,179 Investments 123 Total income 312,484 Expenditure on: Raising funds 70,091 Charitable activities 178,022 Total expenditure 248,113 Net income/(expenditure) 64,371 Transfers between funds - Net movement in funds 64,371 Total funds as at 1 April 2020 311,148 Total funds at 31 March 2021 375,519	Restricted Total Funds Funds 2021 £ £ 50,572 302,343 300 25,711 712 35,891 - 123	Restricted Total Funds Funds 2021 £ £ 50,572 302,343 300 25,711 712 35,891 - 123
312,484	51,584	364,068
70,091 178,022	- 39,897	70,091 217,919
248,113	39,897	288,010
64,371 -	11,687 -	76,058 -
64,371 311,148	11,687 44,336	76,058 355,484
375,519	56,023	431,542

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

13 Tangible fixed assets

Cost At 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 Depreciation At 1 April 2021 Charge for the year At 31 March 2022 Net book value At 31 March 2022 At 31 March 2021 14 Debtors Income tax recoverable Prepayments 15 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Accruals and deferred income PAYE and other taxes Other creditors	Office equipment £ 7,322	Total £ 7,322
	7,322 -	7,322 -
	7,322	7,322
	-	-
	-	-
	2022 £ 42,020 3,550	2021 £ 38,373 5,856
	45,570	44,229
	2022 £ 6,523 1,841 435	2021 £ 9,684 2,640 1,501
	8,799	13,825

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

16 Commitments

At 31 March 2022 the charity had minimum total commitments under non-cancellable operating leases as set out below:

	Property	Property
	2022	2021
	£	£
Falling due:
Within 1 year	3,384	3,384

17 Movement in funds

At 1 April 2021 £ 1,718 15,415 10,768 - 28,122 - - - - - - - -	Income £ - 19,797 - 53,038 36,716 19,950 4,350 26,500 4,025 18,025 16,223 5,069 50	Expenditure £ - (170) (505) (38,190) (58,100) (19,950) (4,350) (26,500) (4,025) (3,550) (6,100) (5,000) -	Transfers £ (1,718) (35,042) (10,263) 45,510 - - - - - - - - -	At 31 March 2022 £ - - - 60,358 6,738 - - - - 14,475 10,123 69 50
56,023	203,743	(166,440)	(1,513)	91,813
10,780 75,078 289,661	658 - 255,579	(970) - (210,811)	(10,468) (75,078) 87,059	- - 421,488
375,519	256,237	(211,781)	1,513	421,488

431,542	459,980	(378,221)	-	513,301

During the year, the trustees reviewed the treatment of the regional funds and came to the conclusion that it was more appropriate to include them all within restricted funds. Therefore the TCF local support group funds have been transferred to a restricted local support Group fund, and the remaining restricted Scottish Forum fund was transferred to the fund also.

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

17 Movement in funds (continued)

Restricted funds

The Whirlow fund - used to fund an annual retreat for bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents. The Scottish Forum fund - monies given to finance supportive retreat weekends in Scotland.

The Northern Ireland Branch fund - monies raised for support services for beneficiaries in Northern Ireland.

TCF Local support group funds - monies donated to support TCF's work in particular regions of the UK. The National Lottery Community Fund Grant for the Grief Companion Project - monies given to TCF to expand the scheme which offers peer befriending to newly bereaved parents. Helpline - monies given to fund the provision of a telephone and email national helpline for bereaved parents, siblings, grandparents and the professionals supporting them.

Leaflets - monies given to fund provision of supportive publications for the bereaved.

Training - funding for volunteer training and support.

Retreats - monies donated to provide and subsidise weekend and one day supportive retreats for the bereaved. Siblings - monies to provide support services for bereaved adult siblings (18 years+).

Suicide - monies to provide support services for parents bereaved by suicide.

Online support - funds to enable some services to be delivered online.

Bursaries - monies donated to provide financial assistance to individuals attending retreat weekends and support days.

Designated funds

The TCF Local support group funds represented monies held by local groups that provide support services to beneficiaries. The trustees have reconsidered the allocation of these funds and have concluded that they should be recognised as restricted funds, so the balance has been transfered to the TCF Local Support Group Fund.

The Training and support of volunteer fund represented funds received from a generous legacy. The trustees set these funds aside for a training programme for volunteers which had to be cancelled due to Covid restrictions. The charity is now rethinking its training strategy, so the funds have been transferred back to General Funds.

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

17 Movement in funds (continued)

Movement in funds - prior year

Movement in funds - prior year
Restricted Funds Whirlow Scottish Forum Northern Ireland Branch National Lottery Community Fund Grant for the Grief Companions Project Unrestricted funds Designated funds TCF Local support group funds Volunteer training and support General funds	At 1 April 2020 £ 1,718 15,677 9,191 17,750	Income £ - 792 4,435 46,357	Expenditure £ - (1,054) (2,858) (35,985)	Transfers £ - - - -	At 31 March 2021 £ 1,718 15,415 10,768 28,122
	44,336	51,584	(39,897)	-	56,023
	11,143 76,654 223,351	997 - 311,487	(962) (1,576) (245,575)	(398) - 398	10,780 75,078 289,661
	311,148	312,484	(248,113)	-	375,519

	355,484	364,068	(288,010)	-	431,542

18 Analysis of net assets between funds

Analysis of net assets between funds
Restricted funds Unrestricted funds: Designated funds General funds	Other net assets £ 91,813 - 421,488	Total 2022 £ 91,813 - 421,488
	513,301	513,301

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

18 Analysis of net assets between funds (continued)

Analysis of net assets between funds - prior year

Analysis of net assets between funds - prior year
Restricted funds Unrestricted funds: Designated funds General funds	Other net assets £ 56,023 85,858 289,661	Total 2021 £ 56,023 85,858 289,661
	431,542	431,542

19 Company limited by guarantee

The company is limited by guarantee and as such has no issued share capital. In the event of the company being wound up the liability of the members is limited to £1 each.

20 Related party transactions

Trustees waived expenses of £1,250 (2021: £Nil) during the year.

Other than those disclosed elsewhere in the accounts there are no further related party transactions in either the current or previous year.

2021-03-31-accounts

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

31 MARCH 2022

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Introduction

How our work delivers Public Benefit

National peer-to-peer support for over 50 years

Our Mission

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Our Vision

Our Purpose

Our Objectives

The impact of child loss

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

The benefits of peer support

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

How our work delivers our aims

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Summary of services, activities and achievements in the year

Prerequisite goal 1) Retaining current volunteers and staff and further build upon TCF's infrastructure and human resources

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

What our volunteers say…

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Prerequisite goal 2) Ensuring sufficient funds were raised so that the strategic objectives can be met

OUR SERVICES

National Helpline

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

What parents say…

In person and online supportive events

What parents and siblings say…

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

What parents say…

Further online support

What parents say..’

Grief Companion Scheme

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Local 1-1 support and groups

Informal support

What parents say…

Support for specific circumstances of loss

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

What parents say…

Publications, newsletters and leaflets

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Digital communications and website re-launch

Collaboration and networking

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Future Plans

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022