hon Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS **FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024**
Company Number 04333875[|] Registered Charity Number 1090836
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## **CONTENTS**
- 4 The Centre at a glance 8 Our Review of 2023/24
- 30 Strategic Report
- 44 Financial Report
- **OUR INTEGRATED SUPPORT – MAKING A DIFFERENCE** 17 Anjali’s Story
- 20 Madani’s Story
- 22 Rosane’s Story
- 25 Lewis' Story
Front cover: Children playing at our Family Centre. Photos by Fergus Burnett Photography unless otherwise stated.
A volunteer greeting people at our
Welcome Desk.
**THE CARDINAL HUME CENTRE BELIEVES EACH PERSON MATTERS.**
**We focus our efforts on young people, children and families in need. We tackle homelessness, housing and poverty now, and break its cost into later life. We see the value in each individual and nurture potential, helping young people, children and their families to thrive.**
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## **THE CENTRE AT A GLANCE**
## **WHO WE ARE**
## **HOW WE WORK**
The Cardinal Hume Centre supports young people, children and families facing homelessness and poverty. We proudly stick to the ethos of our founder Cardinal Basil Hume, providing a place of welcome, safety and professional support for those at risk.
We welcome and listen, giving people the time they need to develop the right programme of support. Our breadth of services allow us to provide the bespoke and integrated help that is often needed to enable people to move out of poverty and away from homelessness.
## **WHAT WE DO**
## **AT THE CENTRE, WE LIVE OUR VALUES TO:**
The Cardinal Hume Centre strives towards a society where everyone has a safe place to live and the opportunity to reach their full potential. We do this by enabling young people, children and their families to overcome poverty and avoid homelessness. We:
- Value each person
- Welcome and include
- Encourage potential
- Work together
- Learn and reflect and improve.
- Provide a home and support for young people
- Offer assistance and learning to children and families at risk
- Provide housing, welfare and immigration advice to help people secure a safe home and manage their money
- Mentor people to help them find work, training and develop new skills.
## **OUR YEAR IN NUMBERS**
**This year the Centre supported 1318 clients including 589 families with children and 312 people who are 24 or under.**
## **HOMES AND HOUSING**
## **IMMIGRATION**
- **52** Young people lived with us in our accommodation **14**
**171**
- Clients supported to secure or extend their right to remain in the UK
- Moved on to more independent living
- **19** Average age of someone moving into our hostel **7** Young people given urgent housing in our two
- **17**
- Clients supported to secure their UK Citizenship
## **LEARNING AND WELLBEING**
- emergency rooms
- **70%** Percentage of residents in education, training or work
- **3524**
- Number of family service session attendances Children attending regular family service
- **168**
- programmes
## **MONEY AND WORK**
- **14** Young unaccompanied refugees or asylum
- Clients increased their income through benefit applications, the resolution of existing benefit issue and/or grants awarded
- **120**
## **EMERGENCY AND ESSENTIAL NEEDS**
- **£9,935**
- Value of the 219 emergency supermarket vouchers issued
- Financial gain through assistance with benefit claims
- **£687,629**
- **241** Foodbank vouchers issued
- **63** Clients supported into training, volunteering or
- **£9,955**
- Christmas vouchers and support for 519 clients
- work placement and mentoring
- **28** Clients supported to gain or sustain employment
## **OUR TEAM**
- **95%** Percentage of staff who feel they make a difference **94%** Percentage of staff who enjoy the work they do
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**----- Start of picture text -----**
Residents from
our Supported
Accommodation
having a meal out
together.
Photo taken by
the Hostel team.
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **OUR FINANCES**
|**VOLUNTARY INCOME £000’s**|**VOLUNTARY INCOME £000’s**|
|---|---|
|Trusts|622|
|Individuals|491|
|Major Donors|611|
|Community Groups|191|
|Corporates|190|
|Legacies|953|
|Shop|28|
|**Total Voluntary**|**3,086**|
|**NON-VOLUNTARY INCOME £000’s**|**NON-VOLUNTARY INCOME £000’s**|
|---|---|
|Statutory Income|540|
|Income from Residential Accommodation|473|
|Other income|119|
|**Total Non-Voluntary**|**1,132**|
|**Total Income**|**4,218**|
## **THE SUPPORT YOU GAVE, THE DIFFERENCE YOU MADE**
As a charity, over 70% of our income comes from our supporters. Our work is only made possible because of the incredible generosity of donors. Statutory funding from Westminster City Council (WCC) also enables us to provide essential services to our clients.
## **HOW YOUR MONEY IS SPENT**
Our expenditure in 2023/24 was £3.4M, of which 83% was spent on delivering services. The chart below shows where this was spent across our core activities.
## **HOW YOU GAVE YOUR HELP**
|Legacies|£953,000|
|---|---|
|Donations|£2,105,000|
|Charity Shop|£28,000|
|**TOTAL VOLUNTARY INCOME**|**£3,086,000**|
|**OTHER CENTRE INCOME**||
|Statutory Income|£540,000|
|Earned Income|£592,000|
|**TOTAL INCOME**|**£4,218,000**|
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EXPENDITURE
2023/24
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **OUR DONATIONS**
|**EXPENDITURE £000’s**|**EXPENDITURE £000’s**|**EXPENDITURE £000’s**|
|---|---|---|
||Direct Charitable|2,849|
||Fundraising|570|
|**Total Expenditure**||**3,419**|
For every **£1 donated** , **83p went towards** service delivery.
> [Advice and ][Housing and ][Learning, ][Raising ] Assessment Residential Employment Funds Services and Family Services
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ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
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## **OUR REVIEW OF 2023/24**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Stay and Play in
our Family Centre.
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **FOREWORD**
## **The trustees, who are the directors for the purposes of**
**company law, present their Annual Report and Accounts, including the Strategic Report, together with the financial statements of Cardinal Hume Centre for the year ended 31 March 2024.**
This year the number of children experiencing homelessness hit record levels. In England, 145,000 children were recorded as being homeless. Child poverty rates are also at a record high.
Homelessness and child poverty are inextricably linked. The biggest indicator of future risk of homelessness as an adult is poverty as a child. Homelessness at a young age is still too often repeated later in life.
It is particularly as a child when homelessness or severe poverty can affect educational attainment and employment prospects. At its most acute it can risk young people being drawn into the
criminal justice system, social care or health systems for the rest of their lives. Without doubt it is a serious risk to future life chances and the potential found in every life.
The Centre’s growing focus on young people, children and their families is therefore not just a response to critical and urgent need, it is also a systemic and long-term response to prevent future homelessness and inequality. It is a deliberate effort to intervene early, to help people to thrive.
Today our team regularly support families who are forced to leave homes without knowing where their children will sleep that night. They support parents and children growing-up in hotel rooms with no kitchen and provide access to a safe home for young people, who’s experience of childhood trauma might make them doubt the future their life holds.
It is always essential and often life changing work. Given homelessness numbers are at record levels, it is needed more than ever. So, in this report you will not only read about our achievements this year but also our future plans. Our aim to invest to reach more homeless children and young people and improve our wrap around support. To build our targeted and preventative approach and in time to influence preventative practice elsewhere.
It’s a model based on one founding principle. The belief that each person matters, each person has potential. That the dignity of every life is innate and not earned. It not only requires our ability to provide each individual or family with a breadth of support. It takes time and the ability to listen.
This is only possible thanks to our professional staff team, volunteers, supporters and more than anything, our community of clients. We are so grateful for everything you bring. Together, you are the Cardinal Hume Centre, you are our mission and our hope for the future. ,
Mark Hoban, George O’Neill, Chair of Trustees Chief Executive
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## **TACKLING YOUTH, CHILD AND FAMILY HOMELESSNESS: BREAKING THE CYCLE**
## **OUR APPROACH TO TACKLING HOUSING NEED**
This year the number of homeless children in England reached record levels. In one year, since 2023 there has been a 15% increase. Here in Westminster, we estimate at least 3,500 children with a connection to the local area are living in hotels or often inadequate temporary accommodation. Data using Government figures suggest that as many as 12% of the borough’s children may be homeless and living in temporary accommodation[1] , other figures suggest around 1 in 4 children live in poverty.
Many now describe this as a housing emergency. The drivers of increased homelessness is the short supply and high cost of housing, coupled with a stretched benefits system and significant inflation. Too many children and young people are at the centre of this storm, growing up homeless or in unsafe, insecure homes, with all the risks that holds for their future life chances.
The risks of homelessness and poverty are interrelated. Poverty is a cause and consequence of homelessness. Academic studies are clear that childhood experiences of poverty and homelessness, particularly when coupled with experiences of trauma, play a significant part in increasing one’s future risk of homelessness in later life. If you are poor or
homeless as a child, the chance you will be poor or homeless
as an adult significantly increase. Those who are here in the UK, to seek safety and asylum face particular risks.
This is why the Centre’s particular focus on young people, children and their families is so important. It is both a response to urgent and critical need, and also a systemic and preventative response to future homelessness and poverty. It is an investment in future life chances. If the Centre can learn how to mitigate the harm of homelessness as a child and prevent its re-occurrence in adult life, we not only enable changed lives but potentially also significantly reduced future costs to the public purse.
## **WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT**
We provide support through a breadth of services and take a trauma informed, whole family approach. We welcome and listen to our clients, taking the time that’s needed to enable them to design their own package of support. This year 1,318 people used our services, through them we supported 589 families and 312 children and young people who were 24 or under.
We have emergency accommodation for young people and provide support to families. We offer specialist advice and advocacy services in welfare rights, housing and immigration. We mentor young people and parents who are looking to
find work or develop their skills.
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Lunch time at the Centre.
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1 ~~ee~~ Guardian reference
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_From the beginning I was_ **“** _treated with respect, fairness and most importantly I was never made to feel judged or outcasted because of my situation. At the time I was a vulnerable single parent dealing with homelessness and joblessness. Today I am a thriving parent with housing, a full time job and I now help other homeless people get back on their feet. I cannot even begin to find the words to express my gratitude to the Cardinal Hume Centre and all the staff that supported me through my journey._ A client of the Centre
We work to help people stabilise their own lives at a time of crisis, and to secure outcomes to build their potential for the longer term. Through the provision of integrated, sometimes wrap-around support we work to achieve the following outcomes:
- **A safe home** – through averting homelessness, identifying suitable accommodation, helping people to manage their rent and improve their security of tenure.
- **Increased income and secure work** – providing crisis support, maximising benefit entitlements and enabling economic stability, mentoring people to find employment or improve their professional skills.
- **Citizenship and belonging** – where necessary and possible helping people to stabilise and regularise their immigration status. Helping all our clients to increase their sense of agency and place in the communities they live.
**• Improved wellbeing and access to support** – helping readiness for school, enhanced literacy and learning through homework and study clubs, building resilience for young people and parents, improving access to relevant therapeutic support where needed.
We explore how to achieve these outcomes in the subsequent sections. We use evidence and learning to inform our work. We have a theory of change which we regularly review. We monitor our work and listen to our clients. Our aim is to constantly improve, become more effective and through that influence practice elsewhere.
Our Immigration Team working at the Centre.
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## **A SAFE HOME** ~~ee~~ **AVERTING HOMELESSNESS, LONGER TERM SECURITY**
## **SUPPORTED ACCOMMODATION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN A TIME OF CRISIS**
At any one time the Centre provides a home for up to 39 young people between the ages of 16 and 25. Among them are people with experience of the care system, those with refugee status (who came to the UK as unaccompanied children seeking safety) and those who are no longer able to remain with their family.
Typically, our residents have all experienced trauma in their lives. We therefore provide high levels of support 24 hours a day, drawing on both the expertise across our Centre team and specialisms available through partner organisations.
Each resident has a personal Key Worker, and together they jointly shape each resident’s individual support. Our aim is to ensure there is integrated and bespoke help to enable our residents build on their strengths, achieve their goals and thrive in adult life.
As part of this, we work to help our residents to find greater confidence and independence, with an aim that they can in time move into more independent housing or homes. We identify different ‘move-on’ options for each resident and help our residents to build the foundations they need to lead a full life. Increasingly finding accessible and affordable accommodation is becoming more difficult and therefore education and securing the skills to build a future career
remains a priority. Despite our hostel needing to offer the highest levels of support to meet increasing social and emotional needs, 70% of the young people we work with are now in education, employment or training.
As well as 32 rooms in our main hostel we also provide, two emergency en-suite rooms and five self-contained ‘stepdown’ flats. The emergency rooms are available for young people who are at immediate risk and need an urgent placement. If available, they can be occupied with less than a day’s notice. These rooms offer a place of safety and immediate respite, enabling young people to consider and make plans until alternative accommodation becomes available. This year, seven young people made use of the service, many choosing to make a longer term home in the Centre.
Our flats, in Basil Hume House, which neighbours our Centre provide young people the opportunity to live more independently whilst maintaining close contact with their Key Worker and the Centre’s wider support. These flats mean residents can stay with us for around a further 12 months during which time we support them to find suitable and longer-term accommodation.
When people are able to move-out into completely independent homes we offer resettlement support to help make that transition a success. Our wider services
such as benefit, housing and employment advice remain available to them for as long as they need.
**This year the Centre provided a home for 52 young people. The average age at the time of moving in was 19 and 14 were able to successfully move-on to more independent living.**
_At the Centre I receive support that_ **“** _is about me. I feel like people are monitoring me and I get a say in what is happening. So my mental health has improved and even when it isn’t so great I am helped to manage it. This means that I have changed and feel ready to move on. What is great is other people think I am too._ Lewis
Residents playing table tennis at the Centre. Photo taken by our Life Skills Worker.
gy ale aie
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## **ANJALI’S STORY**
## **HOUSING ADVICE TO PREVENT HOMELESSNESS AND ADVOCACY FOR MORE SECURE HOUSING**
This year we worked with 266 clients who faced homelessness or lived in an unsuitable home. Those living on lower incomes, now find it increasingly difficult to maintain a secure home. Councils are accepting more people as homeless, whilst the availability of emergency temporary accommodation is shrinking. Here in Westminster, the number of homeless households living in temporary accommodation increased by around 30% in just one year. The cost to the Council is said to be over three times the original budget it set.
The problem has been made worse by rising rents, benefit shortfalls and the acute shortage of affordable homes. Our advisors now regularly support families with children who are waking up without knowing where they will sleep the following night. Emergency stays in hotels are increasing and getting longer with more children growing up in rooms without their own kitchen.
This housing shortage means our advice team feel they are facing unprecedented difficulty in resolving housing issues – particularly those relating to homelessness and suitability of accommodation. This external environment is making it far harder to protect families with children and to ensure they have a safe and secure home. However, the team has achieved positive outcomes for 77 clients including eviction prevention, solving disrepair issues and obtaining accommodation to meet immediate housing needs. One highlight was preventing one client from becoming homeless by reducing their rent arrears by over £19,500.
The Centre also continued its work with partner organisations through the development of a local Temporary Accommodation Action Group. Bringing together residents, colleagues from Westminster City Council, social landlords and other voluntary organisations, we are working to strengthen communications, improve housing quality and add our voice to those who are lobbying for systemic change. We were also asked by Westminster Council to join a small advisory group to help shape its early work on its new Homelessness Strategy which is expected to be finalised in Autumn 2024.
_The council is working to improve the package of support for people living in temporary accommodation. We support_ **“** _Cardinal Hume Centre's proposal that there should be a 'Westminster Offer, designed by all key partners working together in consultation with users. It should cover the placement policy, support and regular contact from the Housing Solutions Service, clear 'signposting' of services, standards of accommodation including repair and furniture, storage of belongings, schools, travel, advice and independent advocacy and any special help for the half of homeless households in work._
_Voluntary agencies also provide important services to households in TA; the efforts of all agencies should be harnessed so the most comprehensive package of support possible can be offered._
**Future of Westminster: Housing Review 2023**
**Anjali* fled her home country to seek asylum in the UK due to threats to her life, she first came to the Centre in 2021.**
“I had to flee Sri Lanka due to violent political issues and seek asylum in the United Kingdom. I needed to come here to save my life. I was brought to the UK by an agent who stole everything – he took my passport, my money and abandoned me. A family friend let me into their home and gave me somewhere to sleep, as well as food because I did not have anything.
I had my son in 2021 but when he was born, his father abandoned me and has never paid for food, clothes, nothing. I am doing it all by myself.
We are now living in a hotel for asylum seekers, and it is very difficult. The room is underground and we do not have anywhere to cook, or even a fridge or microwave. I am suffering from depression and I really worry about my son and his development. I see other children who live in houses and he is growing up in a hotel – it is very different. The food in the hotel is not edible at all and is really unhealthy. Sometimes it smells really bad and my son refuses to eat it.
I am just waiting, waiting waiting... When I can settle permanently, I will be able to take my son to nursery and finally find a job. In Sri Lanka I had a good job in a manufacturing company and I really want to find work like this here.
My social worker told me about the Cardinal Hume Centre and that it was a safe space for me to bring my son, get the support I need and use the kitchen. The staff here have helped me a lot, especially when I got my documents and needed to claim Universal Credit. Now Gemma is helping me with my housing situation with the
Council. They will always push to help with anything as much as they can.
They also helped us to get food when we had no money and gave me an Oyster Card so that I am not stuck in the hotel all of the time. Now I can do things by myself without fear. I do not need to be scared for anything because they are here.
Where we are living there is no outdoor space, so I love the garden here. Even if we come and it is raining, my son just wants to go outside and play because he never can.
Even though I have been moved to a hotel further away, I still want to come here. My son loves coming to the Cardinal Hume Centre and I feel more comfortable
here than anywhere else – this is the best place I can describe. When I am here, I feel that people are treated equally and that this is my country.”
*name changed to protect identity.
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## **INCREASED INCOME, SECURE WORK**
## **TACKLING POVERTY, LONG TERM SECURITY**
## **EMERGENCY AND WELFARE RIGHTS SUPPORT**
The Centre is here for those facing a financial crisis. Whilst our aim is to support people over the longer term we know that in an emergency we have to help people meet their own and their immediate family’s needs.
Our assessment team is on hand for anyone who approaches the Centre for advice. The team takes time to meet, listen and understand the complexity of people’s problems. This work can be essential to building trust with those who use our services. Each person is welcomed as an individual and is given time to share their story and explore the reasons they need the Centre’s support.
This year the team saw 458 clients, it can support clients with more straightforward benefits advice or applications or where necessary it can refer people to the Centre’s more specialist advice teams or other organisations who can provide more appropriate help.
At times of real crisis, the assessment team can provide emergency financial and food support. This year the Centre made 241 direct referrals to the local food bank and issued 219 emergency supermarket vouchers to a total value of nearly £10,000. This followed a review of this type of support to focus its use on those with a greatest need – most commonly to those with no other recourse to public funds.
Given increasing needs and thanks to the support form Westminster City Council’s emergency cost of living fund, the Centre expanded its assessment team by two people. This has helped build the Centre’s capacity – helping it support a 40% increase in clients. This funding has been continued for an additional year, given the Centre’s reach and impact.
To provide more complex advice the Centre employs three specialist welfare benefit advisors. Their work is often around challenging incorrect decisions by public authorities or helping if claims are particularly complex. Regularly this is associated with preventing homelessness – for instance reducing rent arrears through securing correct benefit entitlements for housing costs. Our housing and welfare rights advisors work closely together on individual cases to get the best outcome for clients.
**In the last 12 months the specialist welfare advice team helped 268 clients and secured increased, additional income of over £680,000 to which the clients were fairly entitled.**
## **FINDING AND SECURING SUSTAINABLE WORK**
For most people, having a steady and sustainable job is an essential part of independent life. It is also recognised that the education and occupation of your parents and work opportunities as a young person are among the main drivers for improved social mobility. This makes the Centre’s work
to support parents and young people into jobs and careers a crucial part of our integrated service.
This year, our team of three employment advisors worked with 126 people. Their role is to help people secure employment through coaching, CV development, job-search support and interview practice. This is often supported by helping clients to find opportunities to volunteer, take a work placement or through securing new skills through education or training. Our aim is to help people to reach their true potential through fulfilling work.
**Through this work, this year the Centre helped 28 clients find a secure job and a further 63 people into training, volunteering or a work placement.** The team have seen a gradual shift to more equal outcomes for both paid employment and training or educational courses as they work with more young people. The work is varied and bespoke to each client, but it is backed up by group work and through opportunities to develop peer support. For instance, this year the Centre held a further education information week, giving the opportunity for the Centre’s residents and some of the young people in our Study Club to find out more about course options in local further education colleges.
The team also used links with corporate partners, this included working with LandSec to develop a ‘World of Work’ day for
12 of the Centre’s clients. It provides an introduction to what it’s like working for a larger company, included a tour of their head offices and information on what different and relevant roles may exist within the company. The Centre also regularly accompanies clients to job fairs including those held by the NHS, Transport for London and Smart Works.
One growing specialism for the team is the Centre’s support for refugees. One of the key challenges for the team is to help clients find the balance between finding ‘any job’ to mitigate their immediate economic need, rather than working to identify roles that better reflect their longer-term potential and will improve their earning potential in the long run.
If work is a priority the Centre helps clients find entry roles but also supports them to make the most of their free time to continue to learn and develop a sustainable future. With older refugees and parents, who often arrive with significant professional expertise, qualifications and skills, the Centre’s team will help individuals use them here in the UK. Our employment team has the time, networks and resources to support refugees with the sometimes complex process to transfer qualifications or re-qualify and register in the UK – including with organisations such as the General Medical Council, Institute of Civil Engineers or other industry regulators and sector bodies.
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## **MADANI’S STORY**
## **Madani has been living in our supported accommodation for a year, after arriving in the UK as a political refugee.**
“My name is Madani, I am 21 years old and I have been living at the Cardinal Hume Centre for just over a year. I am originally from Chad, but when I was 14 I had to leave the country due to political issues. It was not safe for me to stay there so I had to flee and try to find a better life.
I arrived in England when I was 17 and did not know anyone or how to speak the language. I found it really hard to communicate with anyone and could not explain my situation to anyone. I was alone. I was put into a hostel by the council, but when I turned 18 I was too old to stay there so they needed to find somewhere else for me to live.
I was told about the Centre by my social worker who helped me to get a place here. When I arrived, I felt like I was safe – I was really happy. I really like the diversity here. It is good to meet new people, speak with people from around the world and keep practicing my English.
Since living here, I have been helped by Carla in the Employment and Learning team to look for work. I really wanted to get a job, but I needed help to write my application and practice for interview questions. She helped me in every way she could to make sure that I was ready. I went to sessions for interview techniques and this was so helpful.
She also gave me a voucher so that I could buy myself a suit that I could wear to the interview. I felt really smart and confident wearing it and when I turned up for my interview, they said I
looked professional and ready for the job – that felt really good to hear. I was really nervous to do the interview because it was the first one in my life and I was anxious about speaking English but it went really well and I got the job! Because of this, I also feel
confident that in the future when I look for any other jobs I will be more prepared and less nervous.
I have done my training and now I am ready to start the role. I am looking forward to being able to meet new people and speak in English with the customers. It is really good for me.
I am hopeful for the future. I want to keep practicing my English, get my own flat and do things like work, pay my taxes and bills… I want to feel like I am a part of real life. Step by step, things are getting better and my life has changed so much.
For anyone that is struggling like I was, I would say to them to just keep going, keep trying. Nothing is impossible and everyone has dreams that they deserve to achieve. That is how I feel now.”
## **CITIZENSHIP AND BELONGING**
## **IMMIGRATION ADVICE WHEN IT'S NEEDED MOST**
Housing Justice’s hosting scheme due to a lack of funding for that service.
Migrants are at high risk of poor quality, overcrowded and high turnover housing. They are also at greater risk of poverty, particularly if they face restrictions in terms of employment, benefits and access to the statutory homelessness system.
We also continue to have an agreement with The Passage to supervise its specialist immigration solicitor to enable it to work under our Legal Aid contract to represent its clients. The Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens was this year able to secure its own LegalAid contract. The team in its entirety was peer reviewed by the Legal Aid Agency and assessed as ‘excellent’ and its recognised by the London Legal Support Trust as a Centre for Excellence.
Simply, without a legal right to remain in the UK migrants cannot legally rent a home, secure work or have a bank account. This often includes parents of children born in the UK, who risk being trapped in poverty, vulnerable to exploitation.
Accredited by the Law Society and the Office of the Immigration
Service Commissioner, the Centre’s immigration advice team primarily help undocumented migrants who have a rightful claim to remain in the UK. These are people who may have lived in the UK for many years, but have no right to work or benefits support or the right to receive NHS care other than for emergencies. It also helps refugees with asylum claims.
## **CITIZENSHIP AND CERTAINTY**
There are many children across London that are not British citizens, despite having often been born and living their entire lives in the UK. Not having citizenship can affect their right to vote, work and access into university. We are delighted to work with families to ensure children have full access to their rights which in turn reduces the risk of homelessness and poverty into adulthood. Importantly, we can apply for fee waivers for clients, removing the prohibitive costs. In the last 12 months, we enabled 17 successful applications for full citizenship, at no cost to the family.
Clients usually experience significant delays in the consideration of their case by the Home Office. They are left unable to plan for their future on very low incomes, often in the worse forms of accommodation.
We continue to work in partnership with other organisations to help the Centre reach clients with the greatest need for our service. This includes the Latin American Women’s Rights Service, which refers clients where there are often domestic violence issues, and Haringey Migrant Support Centre. Sadly this is the last year that we were able to provide advice to
**This year the Centre supported 336 clients through its specialist immigration advice, helping 171 to secure or extend their right to remain in the UK.**
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ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23
## **ROSANE’S STORY**
**Rosane worked with our immigration team to help get Leave to Remain for herself and citizenship for her children. She kindly shared her story with us and emphasised how important this was for her to make a life here for her children.**
“I came to the UK from Brazil to help my sister who was living here and unwell. Whilst I was looking after her, I met my ex-partner and we had two children – a daughter and a son who has autism. Once they were born, he started to be physically violent towards me but I felt trapped. He knew that I did not have proper immigration status here and used it against me to control me. It was just awful. I was scared that I would be sent to Brazil with my children, but it is too dangerous there and violence everywhere. I would not want to bring my children up there, worrying about their lives.
I first came to the Centre in 2019 because I needed help to get Leave to Remain for myself and my children. The first time I came to the Centre I felt like I finally did not need to be scared because these people are here to help me. I felt like my life could not get any worse at that point and now there is light at the end of the tunnel. Debbie helped me to get citizenship for my daughter. After that, she helped me to get my Leave to Remain and Tessa later helped me to get citizenship for my son. Thanks to them, the whole process was really quick and we were able to get our documentation. To me, the Cardinal Hume Centre feels like I am coming to my mother’s home for love and support. I am so thankful for everyone here.
I cannot put into words how much this has changed my life. Without this, I could not get a job but now I am working in a shop and it is so good for me. I can earn money to support my
family and I love talking to the customers to practice my English. Now I don’t have to be scared to walk around thinking somebody will just stop me.
I am now waiting for the decision on my application to extend my Leave to Remain and Fella is helping me with this. I am stressed about when the Home Office will make a decision, but Tessa reassures me that everything will be ok and helps me to understand the process better. I am not so worried now that my children have their citizenship, but this would give me rights and freedom that I need.
My hopes for the future are just that my children are happy and successful – I want them to follow their dreams. Since my daughter was little, she has told me “Mummy one day I will be a doctor and your life will finally change. I will help you and never leave you alone.” My life has changed so much for the better. It is like before I was l iving in hell, but now I am in paradise.”
## **IMPROVED WELLBEING AND ACCESS**
## **TO SUPPORT**
## **FAMILY SUPPORT: BUILDING CONFIDENCE, STRENGTHENED RESILIENCE**
and services. For instance, this summer, working with St Andrews Youth Club we piloted a Uniform Bank for families most in need. Through it we were able to support at least 56 families with school uniforms for the new school year.
## **FAMILY SUPPORT, TRUST AND SAFETY**
The Centre is a place of trust and safety for families who are homeless and living in hotels or temporary accommodation and others who may be living on low incomes in unsuitable or overcrowded homes. The Centre provides families with regular support to children and their parents in our Family Centre, offering a full schedule during term time and the school holidays. Our aim is to alleviate stress, link families with financial and other advice and promote the child’s wellbeing and development. It is a vital part of the Centre’s offer.
We have also increased our offer for families living in hotels to cook in our kitchen. We provided kitchen access for 44 families over the year. The health of children growing up in hotel rooms has been the key driver for this initiative, with families sometimes being referred to the Centre by Health Visitors who have found evidence of malnourishment in some young children.
We work hard to reach those at greatest risk, and aim to provide help early. We remain the lead voluntary sector partner on the Council’s Integrated Leadership Team for South Westminster and our support contributes to the Bessborough Family Hub and to the development of the Council’s Early Help Plan. The team regularly take part in Family Panels, Children in Need meetings and also to co-ordinating groups supporting families living in Westminster hotels.
Families cook in very small groups with their children, sometimes in the afternoon so school age children can attend. Its bonding and also an important life skills activity and the families can take healthy meals back to their hotels to eat as a family. This offer of a kitchen and ingredients with which to cook a meal of their choosing can also be a conduit for identifying need and offering further assistance. We offer emotional support, helping reduce isolation and can help children with their learning and development.
The Centre’s strength in its ability to respond to immediate and emerging need and we regularly review our programme
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ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23
## **LEWIS’ STORY**
The Centre also provides a full programme during school holidays for the whole family, organising activities and trips for school-age children and ensuring they have access to healthy food. This year we provided activities that included trips to Herne Hill Velodrome, London parks and wildlife centres, galleries, museums, the seaside, city and country farms. These activities bring essential moments of enjoyment, build confidence and develop a sense of belonging. They help open up the cultural capital in and around London to help feelings of isolation or exclusion.
**The Centre’s Family Service programme was regularly attended by 168 local children, attending over 3,500 sessions in total.**
_Even if I am having a bad day, the_ **“** _trips and activities at the Cardinal Hume Centre are a time for me to just be stress free. The Cardinal Hume Centre feels like my home._ A child who visits the Family Centre
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Gardening activities
in our Family Centre.
**----- End of picture text -----**
**Lewis, a resident in our supported accommodation, kindly shared his story with us earlier this year and speaks of how different his life is now.**
“My name is Lewis, I am 22 years old and I have lived in the Hostel for just over two years. I came to the hostel because I struggled with my mental health and when I was at the end of secondary school it got too much for my parents to handle. It was the best things for everyone’s safety that I live in a place where I could get treatment. It was blurry for me, but apparently it was a crazy time.
When I first came to the Hostel it was really nerve-wracking and I was quite anxious. It was a hard thing for me to adjust to, especially living with all the other people, but the staff made it easier. Before coming here, I had some bad experiences with therapists. They would treat me like I don’t know what I am on about and I wanted to tell them “Put the paper down, I am not just a booklet, you can’t just read up about how to fix me!”. Since being here, my mental health has been managed and improved.
I don’t even know how to describe me back then compared to now… if you met me when I first came in you probably wouldn’t recognise me. I am past it all now anyway and all I can do is learn from it. That person doesn’t exist anymore – I was reborn.
Now I’ve improved as much as I can here, and the next step is moving out to my own place and gaining some independence. I’ll be able to get a job, start a family and live life like everyone else does, I guess. That’s my hope, getting back on track with regular life goals, building friendships and relationships. I want to do something worthwhile.”
**Since coming to the Centre, Lewis has regularly volunteered in our garden and is now looking for future work in horticulture.**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
“I always go down to
the garden, and I really
enjoy it. It helps me
to learn life skills and
now I know how to
grow my own food,
which is a lot healthier.
It’s one of those
things where even
if it doesn’t reward
you now, it rewards
future generations
too. If I plant a tree,
I might not get
to see it, but my
children might see
it or even their children –
Lewis pictured working
in the garden.
**----- End of picture text -----**
it's serving the world. Even though I am moving out, I still want to come back once a week to volunteer in the garden.
I am looking forward to the future – I want to get involved with community green projects or have my own allotment. I would even love to get some chicks so that I could raise them and then sell fresh eggs to all my neighbours. Even doing things like sharing this story, it shows that people think I am ready to move on. I find it hard to give myself a pat on the back and I don’t really dwell on the change, but everyone around me is saying it and it gives me a confidence boost.”
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ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23
## **THERAPY AT THE CENTRE**
## **LEARNING AND SCHOOL READINESS**
Supporting the learning of children in early years is critical to future development. If children fall behind in their development before school there is strong evidence that it is difficult to catchup with peers. One of our key aims is to support readiness for children under five years through engagement with their parents, stay and play sessions and more dedicated support.
Our team also run a homework club for primary school children and a Study Club for secondary school children – sometimes including residents from our hostel. Each student benefits from dedicated, typically 1-1, support from a specialist volunteer tutor, helping build confidence and attainment at school or college.
We also provided English tuition to 14 young people who came to the UK to seek safety and asylum as unaccompanied children. We offer individual and small group ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) for parents in our Family Centre or to those we are helping seek work. Not only is this essential to improving employment prospects but it can help those facing unfamiliar challenges such as understanding school reports, official letters, navigating our health system or needing support from social workers or domestic violence support.
Our Life Skills worker supports both residents in our accommodation and young people in the Family Centre. Helping residents with independent living skills, including cooking and budgeting, helping people build a path to greater independence.
## **WELLBEING AND RESILIENCE**
Our services help address key barriers to wellbeing. For those who live in our accommodation we encourage access to local
sports and community services. Through partner agencies we offer personal financial training and if necessary, support for substance or alcohol misuse. We can link them into workshops on personal relationships and mental health. Staff work closely with the Council’s Changing Futures programmes if residents face complex or multiple needs and who might otherwise not get the support they need for longer and more entrenched problems.
An integral part of our residential service is the offer of support from two psychologists who are embedded in our team. The Centre commissions Brett Geller Psychological Services to offer this service to our residents who often have experienced trauma or chaotic childhoods. It provides easily accessible and often essential support from two regular specialist who attend our service twice a week.
We have built on this through the development of a partnership with Nordoff and Robbins to offer a music therapist to children in our Family Centre and residents in our hostel. The therapist has developed a programme of music therapy sessions that is as far reaching and bespoke as it is possible to be given. She has worked with 50 adults and children through weekly music therapy sessions.
Families visiting our Centre and residents in our accommodation are also able to enjoy regular gardening activities in the Centre’s small but well-loved gardens. Together they have grown fruit and vegetables, and we often see children who might have been reluctant to go outside become excited with the garden and able to pick – and eat – the fruits of their work.
**At the Centre, we have therapists who are embedded into the supported accommodation service and come regularly to see young residents. The therapy is tailored to each individual and their needs, so that we can provide responsive support.**
**Angela, one of the psychotherapists, talks about the services that she provides within the Hostel from our partner Brett Grellier Psychology Services.**
“My name is Angela and I provide integrative therapy to the Hostel residents here at the Cardinal Hume Centre. This means that I work with the client and their individual needs, rather than working with one specific model. This includes one-to-one talking therapy or trauma related therapy. I try to be as flexible as possible and to be conscious of the residents’ schedules with working patterns and studying. I see the therapy that is provided here as being part of the wrap-around, holistic approach that the Centre takes to supporting each individual.
Most of the residents that live in the Hostel have experienced some type of trauma in their lives and whilst therapy can be a safe space for them to discuss this, they are often tentative about starting sessions. This is why it is so important to have the service embedded into the Hostel. The reasons why someone might benefit from therapy often serve as barriers for them to access support externally, such as struggling with anxiety or alternatively they might be avoiding gangs in the area for their own safety. Instead, I am available in the Hostel, often leaving my door open between sessions for residents to drop in if they would like to talk about anything.
It is important that the therapy I provide is not limited to a specific number of sessions. Some clients have been working with me for over a year, so I can reflect with them on how far they have come and the progress that they might not have seen themselves.
The main thing that I have learned from working here with the residents is how resilient they are. It is too easy for them to get trapped in a system that takes advantage of them and they do not have people to advocate for them in the same way. I really admire their strength in facing this.” **This year, we have introduced** One of our therapists, Jason, during a session.
**This year, we have introduced Music Therapy as an option for families at the Centre and young people in the Hostel through partnering with Nordoff and Robins.**
“My name is Maya and I provide music-centered music therapy to clients in family services and the Hostel. The ethos is that the therapy is within the music and so making music can give people an opportunity to express themselves. I go from playing guitar and singing nursery rhymes with the families, to singing a range of different genres of music with Hostel residents.
The sessions are entirely tailored to each person. Providing this form of therapy is great for people who might struggle to communicate their feelings due to language or speech barriers. For clients who are not native English speakers, I will ask if there are any songs that they like in their own language to help people to feel like they have a sense of ownership.
Music therapy provides a safe space for taking risks and experimenting. I often model or highlight my mistakes, which is really important for the young people to see as an example and understand that they can feel safe exploring something new. Learning an instrument can be very frustrating and can bring out feelings of defeat and low self-esteem, so I create a space for them to feel safe and get whatever they need to out of the experience.”
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ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23
## **WHO WE WORKED WITH**
## **AGE OF CLIENTS DIRECTLY & INDIRECTLY SUPPORTED**
## **GENDER**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
20% 18%
16%
14%
15% 13% 13%
12%
10% 8%
4%
5% 3%
0%
0 – 4 5-10 11-15 16-24 25-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61+
Age group
This graph is based on the data we have both for the clients we have worked with directly,
as well as the children and young people (0-24) we have supported indirectly through our
support of the whole family (a total of 2,549 clients and their dependants).
ETHNIC ORIGIN
39%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20% 17%
15%
13%
15%
10% 6%
4% 5%
5%
0%
Ethnic origin
Arab Asian or Black or AmericanLatin Mixed White Other/Do not wish
Asian British Black British to disclose
Percent (%)
Percent (%)
**----- End of picture text -----**
This graph is based on the data we have both for the clients we have worked with directly, as well as the children and young people (0-24) we have supported indirectly through our support of the whole family (a total of 2,549 clients and their dependants).
## **ETHNIC ORIGIN**
Female Male Not recorded/ Unknown
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Based on 1318 clients.
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Based on 945 clients.
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **OUR VOLUNTEERS**
We have a range of volunteers that work across the Centre’s client services and in our shop to raise valuable funds to support our mission. For instance we have dedicated volunteers who work with some of our clients learning English in one-to-one lessons. These bespoke lessons meet the needs of the students and clients' whilst supporting the work of the employment team, advice teams and the family centre.
In family services, we regularly benefit from volunteers to help deliver our service including in our homework and study clubs. Our volunteers come from a range of different backgrounds and enjoy sharing their skills and knowledge with staff and clients. Together our volunteers provide vital time to help the Centre provide a breadth of support to help our clients. The Centre is so incredibly grateful for their help and commitment.
## **“** _Being privileged to give the Benedictine welcome to those coming into the Hub, many in trepidation, is a blessing for me._
Carmen, Assessment Welcome Desk volunteer
A volunteer in our Charity Shop sorting donations.
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ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23
## | **STRATEGIC REPORT** si **OUR FUTURE PLANS TO MEET GROWING DEMAND**
## **OUR NEW STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK**
## **BREAKING THE CYCLE OF HOMELESSNESS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE**
The last Annual Report marked the last in the Centre’s three-year business planning cycle. In this and the three years covered by the Centre’s Business Plan for 2020-23, overall client numbers increased by 13%, the number of families supported by 26% and the number of children and young people by 54%.
## **STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK 2023-28: OUR GUIDING AIM AND GOALS**
For children, young people and families. Tackle homelessness and poverty now, to break its cycle into later life.
Yet the context the Centre operates in has changed considerably. Both rates of homelessness and poverty are increasing. Thousands of children and young people are homeless or living in in-secure, overcrowded or sub-standard housing. Here in Westminster twenty five percent of children live in poverty and over 3,500 live in temporary accommodation. In just two years this number increased by over 25%.
## **Strategic goals**
**1.** Support young people at risk to reach their full potential, equipped to thrive in adult life.
**2.** Prevent homelessness and improve outcomes for children and young people by providing tailored support to families at risk.
Particularly at a young age, homelessness or severe poverty affects educational attainment and employment prospects. At its most acute it can risk people being drawn into criminal justice, social care or health systems for the rest of their lives. Its individual cost can be huge and too often repeated in later life and into subsequent generations. The biggest indicator or future homelessness risk as an adult is poverty as a child.
**3.** Welcome and help people in crisis to secure effective support.
## **Enabler goals**
**1.** Harness evidence and insight to improve long term outcomes for children, young people and families. Use our experience and networks to influence practice elsewhere.
This year the Centre adopted a new Strategic Framework to guide its
work over the next five years (2023 – 2028). It builds on our last Business Plan and at its roots is the belief that the most effective approach to preventing future homelessness and entrenched poverty is to focus more effective support on children, young people and their families.
**2.** Maximise the Centre’s efficiency and effectiveness.
The entrance to our Hub.
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Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23
## **REACHING HOMELESS CHILDREN IN WESTMINSTER**
With over 3,500 children from Westminster living in temporary accommodation, too often we see families and young people reach crisis point before there is effective help.
## **2024-25 PRIORITIES TO HELP THE CENTRE MEET ITS GOALS**
As part of this work the Centre has agreed a new implementation plan with a focus on the 24/25 and 25/26, financial years. It has identified two priorities and other workstreams to strengthen the Centre’s impact and ability to meet its aims. In summary:
We want to reach people earlier and if possible, we want to stop homelessness in the first place, and if that is not possible reduce the risk of it having a repeated and long-term impact.
Therefore, alongside existing services we plan to put particular effort into developing an enhanced and comprehensive approach for families with children and young people living in temporary accommodation. Evidence suggests that they are perhaps the greatest risk of repeated homelessness and long-term poverty.
## **PRIORITY WORKSTREAMS**
**1.** Reach more young people who face or are at risk of homelessness – through the development of an enhanced model of support for homeless families living in hotels or other temporary accommodation.
Starting in 2024, we will invest in our services, using some of our reserves we will pilot and then work to scale a new form of integrated support for homeless families living in temporary accommodation. We will work closely with partners to identify those who are most in need of our support, reach out to families and help them build on their strengths: Helping them to improve their own situation and to build their resilience for later life. We expect to recruit additional staff to start this work in the autumn and winter of 2024, enabling us to offer new in-reach services in the hotels where people live.
**2.** Client outcomes and impact – to further strengthen our use of data to understand and build our client impact.
## **SUPPORTING WORKSTREAMS**
**1.** Young people at risk – further develop the integrated and wrap-around support for Centre residents.
**2.** Quality and safety – maintain and where necessary improve the quality and safety of our services – eg through external safeguarding audit, securing relevant quality accreditations.
**3.** Service development impact and reach – further improve the accessibility of our service to families and young people and strengthen our service integration.
**4.** People engagement – lead and engage our staff to support our impact for young people, children and families.
**5.** Finances – continue to improve our ability to raise funding and manage our costs to support our impact.
**6.** Networks and reputation – strengthen our networks and reputation to support delivery and impact.
**7.** Planning and governance – further strengthen the Centres oversight and strategic development through its governance and executive structure.
The Centre’s strengthened financial position will help this work. The Centre’s leadership has also reviewed some of its governance structures and restructured its senior team to support this strategic implementation.
Half term craft activities in our Family Centre.
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ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23 ~~i~~
## **FINANCIAL STRATEGY**
This year covers the first year of our new three-year financial plan. In this Plan, the Centre aimed to continue its plans to focus on achieving a balanced budget and rebuilding reserves. The Centre has far exceeded its target in the first year due to generous legacy gifts resulting in a surplus of more than £790k which was more than £900k above budget.
These results have ensured that the Centre remains on a strong financial footing in the midst of continuing challenges in the economic environment. Our strong results this year will underpin expansion our services in 2024/25 and will enable further investment in order to secure our services in future years.
## **EXPENDITURE**
Expenditure this financial year was £3.42M (2023: £3.47M). The decrease in expenditure this year is partly due to one significant case won by our immigration team last year resulting in expenditure of over £150K. This expenditure was covered by our legal aid contract and was not repeated this year. Funds invested in streamlining of our infrastructure in the prior financial year have enabled us to reduce our support costs in the current financial year by over 5%.
income returning to normal levels after the significant legal aid case last year. Residential income however has increased by over 8% to £473k due to increased demand driving more efficient allocation of places to young people. The Centre’s contract to provide supported accommodation to young people and young adults has now been extended until March 2025, and we are currently involved in the tender process to provide support for the next three years.
We are continuing to pursue opportunities for additional statutory funding and have successfully renewed funding of £58K from Westminster Council enabling us to extend two existing posts within our advice team.
Voluntary income receipts this year show that the Centre continues to successfully access public funds and Charitable Trusts with strengthening support also coming from the corporate sector.
Our legacy income continues to increase with three significant gifts totalling over £850k. The pipeline of anticipated legacies remains strong with further material sums expected over the next 24 months and we will continue to use our legacy equalisation fund to smooth variations in receipts where necessary.
## **INCOME**
Clients of the Centre on a tour of Westminster Abbey. Photo taken by our Life Skills Worker.
Total income this year was £4.22M (2023 £3.61M). This exceeded our 2023-24 budget by over £900k and this was again driven by legacy receipts which this year totalled over £950k (2023 £326k).
Our donated income has continued to increase this year. Our income from charitable activities has dropped with our immigration services
## **LOOKING AHEAD**
The Board is initially choosing to release a further £80K from restricted and designated funds (with all funds being used for the required purposes) growing and developing our client services. However, given the unexpected growth in legacy funds we expect
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to invest further substantial funds in service development later in the 2024/25 financial year in order to build our support for the increasing number of homeless families.
Despite the challenging economic outlook our internal infrastructure investments, as well as the material increase in legacy gifts this year, have given us a significant uplift in our legacy equalisation and Centre growth funds. We are reviewing how best to invest these funds in order to secure the future of the Centre. As well as providing increased resource for our Centre growth strategy we will be reviewing our investment policy in order to support investment in a wider range of assets, including equities, allowing us to generate sustainable income for the Centre in future years. We will also continue to invest in our infrastructure and IT to further reduce our cost base in future years.
## **DESIGNATED FUNDS**
Our Centre Growth Fund now stands at £530k. Just over half of this sum has been set aside for use in the current financial year to build the Centre’s support for the increasing number of homeless families living in hotels.
Our Client Fund was created to meet the direct needs of our clients such as support for food or other necessities. Given the ongoing cost of living issues we have increased this fund to support a further £50k of emergency funding for clients if required.
We have created a new asset replacement fund this year and set aside £70k of funding for future essential repairs to the building. Whilst our building is in a reasonable state, we aim to make the best possible use of our assets and some larger items of plant and equipment are likely to need replacing over the next five years. This fund has been created to anticipate those costs.
Our legacy equalisation fund was created to allow us to smooth variations in receipts. This has increased significantly to £712k this year as a result of additional legacy gifts. Some funds will be retained for future years however as noted above we expect to direct a proportion of this fund towards our growth strategy.
## **TOTAL FUNDS**
Total funds at March 2024 are £4.16M which is an increase of £799K on the previous year.
## **AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS**
General Funds are available for normal operating purposes. These are unrestricted and, at March 2024, the balance of £942K is more than three months of normal operating expenditure, in line with the trustees’ reserve policy.
Designated Funds are held for specific purposes as described above. At March 2024, these totalled £3.12M. The Fixed Asset fund represents the net book value of total assets less the cost
of long-term financing. These funds are not available for any other purpose and at March 2024 the value was £1.75M.
Restricted funds are donations for specific purposes. The value at March 2024 of £108K represents funds available for spending on posts in advice and employment and support services for our residents. Trustees, led by the Treasurer, review the reserves to ensure the organisation continues to generate the appropriate level of cash reserves.
## **GENERAL FUNDS**
The Board retains a focus on preserving our General Fund. At the end of 2023/24 this has increased to £942K, which is £139K higher than the figure for the previous year mostly due to the release of remaining funds from the designated Covid fund.
This is within the trustees’ reserves target equivalent to 2-4 months operating costs, which the Board considers is an appropriate minimum level of General Funds after considering the risk factors that the organisation is exposed to and its capability to respond to these. Normal operating costs comprise total expenditure, less costs covered by statutory income and restricted funds at 31 March, which for 2023/24 equates to £2,770K for the year/£231K per month (2023: £2,634K/£220K).
## **INVESTMENT POLICY**
The Centre’s investment policy covers the investment of all monies held by the Centre, including those that are surplus to the immediate day-to-day operating needs. The investment policy seeks to balance financial return with security, liquidity, and ethical integrity. On 31st March 2024, invested monies were held in the form of cash deposits with several financial institutions all within the FSCS protection scheme.
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ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23
## **FUNDRAISING APPROACH**
We regulate the amount of contact with donors to protect vulnerable people and the general public from unreasonable behaviour. We do not write to former clients regarding fundraising activity without them requesting to hear about our work. Our aim is to provide an authentic and engaging supporter experience using stories from our clients and residents, and statistics and quotes gathered from a range of client and resident feedback methods.
At the Cardinal Hume Centre we are committed to raising the income we need to fulfil our founding mission in ways that are transparent, cost-effective and appropriate to our Benedictine ethos. We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator and adhere to the Fundraising Code of Practice in all our income generation activities. To support our work, the Cardinal Hume Centre raises funds from individuals, companies, schools, parishes, religious orders, grant-making trusts and statutory agencies.
In 2023-24 we received four fundraising complaints. One referred to our Centre Life magazine being forwarded on from a very old mailing address, we apologised and updated our database.
We write to people who are already supporting us or who have expressed interest in our work, between four and six times a year. We do not call or write to people who are not connected to our work. We email only those people who ask to receive marketing emails from us. We ensure that the way we collect and look after personal information about our supporters complies with the UK data protection legislation. The Donor Privacy Notice, on our website, sets out how we collect, use and retain information about supporters.
We had two complaints concerning our emails to supporters about a matched giving campaign; one did not wish to receive such emails; the second said they had already donated to the appeal but felt we sent too many reminders. We apologised in both situations, noted the comments on our database and reviewed our mailing activity for the following matched giving campaign.
The fourth complaint was in response to an email on Christmas Day wishing the supporter a Happy Christmas, this prompted a response that we sent too many requests for support in December, even though he had made a donation. We apologised noted the comments. We also received one Fundraising Preference Service request to suppress all communications.
At the Centre, we have staff and volunteers working on fundraising activities, under the supervision of the Director of Fundraising and Communications. We do not employ third parties to fundraise on our behalf. We continue to develop our online fundraising offers to support the widening of our donor audience profile. The Centre uses recognised web-based giving platforms: Just Giving, Crowdfunder and Big Give.
## **STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT**
## **PUBLIC BENEFIT**
## **OUR VALUES, AT THE CENTRE WE WILL:**
The Cardinal Hume Centre meets its public benefit obligation by reaching out and giving practical help to those in greatest personal, social and economic need. After our strategic review in 2023 we continue to build our focus on services for young people, children and families. Our aim is to tackle homelessness, poor housing and poverty at a young age to break its cycle into later life.
- Value each person
- Welcome and include
- Encourage potential
- Work together
- Learn, reflect and improve
## **ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE**
In providing access to its services, the Centre does not discriminate on the basis of religion, or any other protected characteristic. We are committed to equality of access to all our services and there is no faith bias towards the people whom we welcome and support. Our ethos is underpinned by a belief in the value found in every individual. As part of this, we enjoy close relationships with key figures in the Catholic Church and receive financial and material support from the Catholic donor community. The Centre is an independent charity as well as a company limited by guarantee.
The company is a charitable company limited by guarantee established under a Memorandum and Articles of Association. At the year-end there were eight members (2022: 8), set out on page 66 who were each liable to contribute £1 in the event of the company being wound up. The Centre is governed by the Board of Trustees who are also the Directors for the purposes of Company Law. The Board meets up to five times annually. The Archbishop of Westminster approves the appointment of one Trustee and the remaining trustees are elected by the Company Members at the Annual General Meeting. The Board may also appoint a trustee to serve until the next Annual General Meeting, at which time he or she would cease to hold office but would be eligible for election.
## **OUR VISION**
The Centre strives towards a society where every individual
has a safe place to live and the opportunity to reach their full potential.
The current composition of the Centre’s Board of Trustees is set out on page 66. In December 2023, the Centre appointed Mark Hoban as its new Chair, following the previous Chair (Robert Arnott) reaching the end of his nine year term. It also appointed four new Trustees to replace vacancies created in 2022 and through the
## **OUR MISSION: EACH PERSON MATTERS**
The Cardinal Hume Centre enables families, children and young people to overcome poverty and avoid homelessness.
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resignation of one trustee in 2023. In the interest of good governance, the Board keeps its membership under review and this included a skills and experience audit carried out in early 2024. It expects to recruit a new Treasurer in 2024 and expects to take further opportunities to strengthen the diversity of experience and skills it includes. All recruitment is external and advertised.
On appointment, trustees are encouraged to participate in an all Centre induction to become familiar with the activities of the Centre. They also receive relevant information relating to the Centre and their responsibilities as trustees. They are invited to attend training to keep abreast of changes in charity governance that may affect the Centre. They serve on one or more of the sub-committees listed below. They are invited to form a working relationship with members of the Senior Management Team. The Centre currently has the following sub-committees, which meet regularly to monitor the relevant areas of the Centre’s work. It is expected these will be reviewed and changed in 2024 to reflect the new strategy of the Centre and to ensure its governance structures are proportionate and support the Centre’s increasing impact.
- Service Development
- Finance
- Risk and Compliance
- Fundraising and Communications
- People
- Board Development
Committee membership includes Trustees, Company Members, external consultants and senior staff. The day-to-day management of the Centre is delegated to the Chief Executive and Senior Management Team which consists of the Director of Finance and
Operations, Director of Fundraising and Communications, Head of Service Development, Head of Advice and Senior HR Manager. Pay grades and scales are reviewed by the People sub-committee and ultimately the Board of Trustees.
## **PARTNERSHIPS**
In pursuing its aims and objectives, the Centre seeks to have collaborative relationships with local and national organisations and networks. Particularly at the service delivery level it has close connections with other like-minded organisations that provide services relating to tackling homelessness and poverty. Significant partnerships over the year are set out on page 70.
## **INTERNAL CONTROL AND RISK MANAGEMENT**
The Trustees have overall responsibility for the Centre’s systems of internal control. There is a clear delegation of the Trustees’ authority through the Chief Executive to the rest of the organisation. The Centre operates a three-year financial planning cycle with annual revenue and capital budgets being approved by the Trustees. Significant changes to budget are subject to specific approval. Our financial reporting system compares results with the budget on a quarterly basis together with forecasts of the expected year-end results.
The Risk and Compliance Committee oversees the organisational risk framework and ensures that the approach to risks identified in the company risk register is appropriate and safeguards the Centre’s long-term sustainability. The risk register records identified risk and is a live, operational management tool. With the support of its Risk and Compliance Committee the Board
reviews this register and the management of key risks facing the Centre at each of its meetings.
The Centre has continued to keep its internal financial management controls under review. Cash and expense management has been strengthened this year through the implementation of new systems and finances.
All our IT systems are now cloud based and this year the Centre strengthened its security and interoperability through the introduction of SharePoint. It has enhanced our team’s ability to work flexibly and from different locations, preparing us for a future where we want to be able to increase our client reach. In 2024 we expect to review our phone system and change our CRM database for fundraising to reduce costs and improve our data use to support our fundraising.
Our health and safety policy and processes are subject to external review by specialists through our insurance broker. Our Risk and Compliance Committee oversee progress on any required changes. The Centre also commissioned an external audit of its safeguarding policies and procedures in February 2024. Its recommendations will be completed in the forthcoming financial year, in conjunction with the legal duty to register our supported accommodation with Ofsted. We have commissioned an external organisation to act as our Data Officer and it will carry out a further review of our GDPR policies in 2024.
To further ensure the quality of our client services, the Centre’s Immigration Team is accredited by the Legal Aid Agency’s Specialist Quality Mark and we secured accreditation for our housing and welfare rights advice under the Advice Quality Standard. The Centre is also accredited by the London Youth Quality Mark.
## **FINANCIAL RISK**
The organisation has identified the risks to its voluntary and statutory income streams. For voluntary donations, as in previous years, the key risk is of a reduction in donations resulting from the general economic downturn. Our statutory income primarily comprises the contract with Westminster Council for support services. The key risk identified here is that this contract isn't renewed. This risk is partially mitigated by the lack of good quality accommodation in Westminster and, at the time of writing the contract has just been renewed for a further year. Additional risk mitigation includes:
- A continuous process of donor relationship management
- Ensuring that effective processes and policies are in place to capture and record all income streams
- Regular budgetary reviews including
- Review of major contracts
- Assessment of reserves and fund management
- Liquidity review
- Stress testing our reserve levels at least annually to ensure that levels are sufficient
The reserves policy ensures the organisation has sufficient savings to ensure long-term sustainability. Quarterly financial reports are monitored by both the Finance sub-committee and the Board in order to assess performance. Service Development is closely monitored against available funding sources to ensure that any growth is sustainable.
## **BUSINESS RISK**
The organisation recognises the need for a resilient leadership team that can approach the dynamic environment through proactive management. The recruitment and retention of key personnel
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able to meet the changing needs and add value to the Centre is a key factor in our long-term success. This year the Centre welcomed new Heads of Advice and Service Development to lead our client teams and a Senior HR Manager. Our strategy for the next five years to 2028 is based around a financially sustainable plan and a change management work plan, led by our senior team to manage the challenges we face.
## **CAPITAL PROJECTS**
As noted in our annual report last year we have been able to invest in our IT infrastructure decommissioning our on-site servers and moving to SharePoint. This has enabled us to realise substantial cost savings and increased our ability to work flexibly and offer increased options to our clients. We also invested in our building infrastructure upgrading key fire doors and implementing a new access monitoring system that will enable us to provide increased security to both clients and staff.
## **STAFF AND VOLUNTEER RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION**
The Centre is an equal opportunities employer and applies objective criteria to assess merit. It aims to ensure that no job applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation.
Selection criteria and procedures are reviewed to ensure that individuals are selected, promoted and treated equally on the basis of their relevant merits and abilities. All employees receive equal treatment and, where appropriate and possible, special training to enable them to progress both within and outside the
organisation. The Centre is committed to staff training and development backed this year by an £19k budget.
The Trustees would like to take this opportunity to thank the Centre’s staff team for their professionalism and commitment to working with clients to achieve their goals and to ensure the Centre has the resources it needs to work effectively in response to need.
## **STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES**
The Trustees (who are also Directors of Cardinal Hume Centre for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally 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 Centre and of the income and expenditure of the Centre 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 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);
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and
prudent;
- state whether applicable United Kingdom 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 Centre will continue in operation.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Centre 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 Centre and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
## Each of the Trustees confirms that:
- so far as the Trustee is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the Centre’s auditor is unaware; and
- the Trustee has taken all the steps that he/she ought to have taken as a Trustee in order to make himself/herself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the Centre’s auditor is aware of that information.
This confirmation is given and should be interpreted in accordance with the provisions of s418 of the Companies Act 2006.
The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the Centre’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
Approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by:
Mark Hoban Chair of Trustees 12th September 2024
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ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
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## **INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF CARDINAL HUME CENTRE**
“Dinosaur digging” in our Family Centre.
## **OPINION**
We have audited the financial statements of Cardinal Hume Centre (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2024 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, and statement of cash flows, the principal accounting policies and the notes to the financial statements. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland’ (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion, the financial statements:
- give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2024 and of its income and expenditure for the year then ended;
- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.
## **BASIS FOR OPINION**
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the 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**
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
## **OTHER INFORMATION**
The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. 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.
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
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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 course of 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 this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. 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:
- the information given in the strategic report and trustees' report, which is also the directors’ report for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
- the the strategic report and the trustees' report, which is also the directors’ report for the purposes of company law, has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
## **MATTERS ON WHICH WE ARE REQUIRED TO REPORT BY EXCEPTION**
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in 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:
• adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
- the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
- certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
## **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 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.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:
## **How the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities including fraud**
Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:
- the engagement partner ensured that the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
- we identified the laws and regulations applicable to the
charitable company through discussions with management, and from our commercial knowledge and experience of the sector;
• we focused on specific laws and regulations which we considered may have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the charitable company, including the Charities Act 2011, Companies Act 2006, data protection legislation, anti-bribery, employment, safeguarding and health and safety legislation;
- we assessed the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management and inspecting legal correspondence; and
- identified laws and regulations were communicated within the audit team regularly and the team remained alert to instances of non-compliance throughout the audit.
**We assessed the susceptibility of the company’s financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:**
- making enquiries of management as to where they considered there was susceptibility to fraud, their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud; and
- considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations.
## **To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:**
- performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;
- tested journal entries to identify unusual transactions;
- assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining the accounting estimates set out in the accounting policies were indicative of potential bias; and
- • used data analytics to identify any significant or unusual transactions and identify the rationale for them.
**In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:**
- agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation;
- reading the minutes of trustee meetings;
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## **STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH 2024**
_(Incorporating an Income and Expenditure Account)_
- enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and claims; and
- reviewing any available correspondence with HMRC and the company’s legal advisors (although none was noted as being received by the charitable company).
There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of non-compliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the directors and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.
Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at www.frc.org.uk/ auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.
## **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.
## 12th September 2024
Edward Finch (Senior Statutory Auditor)
For and on behalf of Buzzacott LLP,
Statutory Auditor 130 Wood Street London EC2V 6DL
|||**Year Ended 31st March 2024**|**Year Ended 31st March 2024**|**Year Ended 31st March 2024**|**Year Ended 31st March 2023**|**Year Ended 31st March 2023**|**Year Ended 31st March 2023**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**Unrestricted**|**Restricted**|**Total Funds**|**Unrestricted**|**Restricted**|**Total Funds**|
|||**Funds**|**Funds**|**2024**|**Funds**|**Funds**|**2023**|
||**Notes**|**£000's**|**£000's**|**£000's**|**£000's**|**£000's**|**£000's**|
|**Income From:**||||||||
|Donations and Legacies||||||||
|Donations|2|1,454|651|2,105|1,628|447|2,075|
|Legacies||953|-|953|326|-|326|
|**Total Donations and Legacies**||**2,407**|**651**|**3,058**|**1,954**|**447**|**2,401**|
|Charitable Activities|3|473|540|1,013|436|690|1,126|
|Other Trading Activities||||||||
|Sale of Donated Goods||28|-|28|21|-|21|
|Investments: Interest Income||35|-|35|6|-|6|
|Other Income||84|-|84|56|-|56|
|**Total Income**
**3,027**
**1,191**
**4,218**
**Expenditure on:**
~~i~~|||||**2,473**|**1,137**|**3,610**|
|Raising Funds||||||||
|Donations and Legacies|4a|514|-|514|453|-|453|
|Fundraising Trading|4a|56|-|56|57|-|57|
|||570|-|570|510|-|510|
|**Charitable Activities**||||||||
|Housing and Residential Services|4b|388|555|943|482|499|981|
|Advice and Assessment|4b|687|526|1,213|888|373|1,261|
|Learning, Employment and Family Services|4b|551|142|693|562|151|713|
|||1,626|1,223|2,849|1,932|1,023|2,955|
|||||||||
|**Total Expenditure**||**2,196**|**1,223**|**3,419**|**2,442**|**1,023**|**3,465**|
|Net gains on Investments||-|-|-|-|-|-|
|**Net (expenditure)/income**||||||||
|**and Net Movement in Funds**|6|831|(32)|799|31|114|145|
|Transfers between funds||-|-|-|-|-|-|
|**Reconciliation of Funds**||||||||
|Total funds brought forward at 1st April||3,226|140|3,366|3,195|26|3,221|
|**Total funds carried forward at 31st March**||**4,057**|**108**|**4,165**|**3,226**|**140**|**3,366**|
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ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
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**ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN NET DEBT**
## **BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31st MARCH 2024**
|||**2024**|**2024**|**2023**|**2023**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Notes**|**£000’s**|**£000’s**|**£000’s**|**£000’s**|
|**Fixed Assets**||||||
|Tangible Assets|8||2,852||2,939|
|Intangible Assets|8||16||-|
||||2,868||2,939|
|**Current Assets**||||||
|Debtors|9|833||429||
|Short-Term Deposits||15||215||
|Cash at Bank and in hand||1,639||1,108||
|||2,487||1,752||
|**Creditors:**amounts falling due|10|(171)||(284)||
|within one year||||||
|**Net Current Assets**|||**2,316**||**1,468**|
|**Total Assets less Current Liabilities**|||**5,184**||**4,407**|
|**Creditors:**amounts falling due|11||**(1,019)**||**(1,041)**|
|after one year||||||
|**Total Net Assets**
**4,165**
~~SS SS SCOTT~~||||**3,366**
~~T_T~~||
|**Represented by:**||||||
|**Funds and Reserves**||||||
|Unrestricted Funds||||||
|General Funds|12|942||803||
|Designated Funds|12|3,115||2,423||
||||4,057||3,226|
|Restricted Funds|12||108||140|
|**Total Funds**|||**4,165**||**3,366**|
Approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by:
Mark Hoban, Chair of Trustees
12 September 2024
Charity registration no. 1090836 Company registration no. 04333875
## **STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS FOR YEAR ENDING 31st MARCH 2024**
|||**2024**|**2023**||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Notes**|**£000’s**|**£000’s**||||||
|**Cash flows from operating activities**|||||**At 1 April**
**2023**|**Cash**
**flows**|**Other non-**
**cash changes**|**At 31 March**
**2024**|
|Net cash provided by operating activities|A|429|200||**£000’s**|**£000’s**|**£000’s**|**£000’s**|
|**Cash flows from investing activities**||||**Cash**|1,323|331|-|**1,654**|
|Proceeds from sale of shares||-|45||||||
|Investment interest received||23|6|Loans falling due|||||
|Purchase of tangible assets||(49)|(16)|within one year|(20)|(20)|20|**(20)**|
|Purchase of intangible assets
Net cash(used in) provided byinvestingactivities||(19)
**(45)**|**35**|Loans falling due
after more than oneyear
**Total**|(702)
**601**|**311**|20
**40**|**(682)**
**952**|
|**Cash flows from financing activities**|||||||||
|Bank Loan repaid||(22)|(21)||||||
|Interestpaid on bank loan||(31)|(32)||||||
|**Net cash used in financing activities**||**(53)**|**(53)**||||||
|**Change in cash and cash equivalents**||331|181||||||
|**Cash and cash equivalents at 1st April 2023**|B|1,323|1,142||||||
|**Cash and cash equivalents at 31st March 2024**|B|**1,654**|**1,323**||||||
|**Net income as per statement**
**of financial activities**||799|145||||||
|**Adjustments for:**|||||||||
|Depreciation charge||117|160||||||
|Amortisation charge||3|-||||||
|Gifted Shares||-|(23)||||||
|Loss on the disposal of assets||18|-||||||
|Bank loan interest paid||31|32||||||
|Bank loan interest received||(23)|-||||||
|Increase in debtors||(404)|(30)||||||
|Decrease in creditors||(112)|(84)||||||
|**Net cashprovided by operating activities**||**429**|**200**||||||
|Cash in hand and at bank||1,639|1,108||||||
|Short term deposits(cash equivalents)||15|215||||||
|**Total cash and cash equivalent**||**1,654**|**1,323**||||||
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## **ACCOUNTING POLICIES**
assets used to determine the annual depreciation charge; • estimating the amount receivable in respect of legacies where the charity has been notified of its entitlement;
The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainties in the preparation of the financial statements are laid out below.
- the basis on which support costs have been allocated across the various expenditure headings;
## **BASIS OF PREPARATION**
• the assumptions adopted by the Trustees and management in determining the value of any designations required from the charity’s general unrestricted funds; and
These financial statements have been prepared for the year to 31 March 2024 with comparative information provided in respect of the year to 31 March 2023. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items recognised at cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policies below or the notes to these financial statements.
• estimating the impact of various risks on the charity’s income and expenditure flows for the purpose of preparing cash flow forecasts and budgets to assist in the assessment of going concern.
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 United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (Charities SORP FRS 102) the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Charities Act 2011.
## **ASSESSMENT OF GOING CONCERN**
The Trustees have assessed whether the use of the going concern assumption is appropriate in preparing these accounts. The Trustees have made this assessment in respect of a period of one year from the date of approval of these accounts which have been prepared on the going concern basis.
In reaching this conclusion, the Trustees have considered the issues and financial strategy set out on pages 36 to 37 and drawn on modelling carried out in May 2024 covering the period to March 2027. This showed that the Centre could sustain inflation of up to 4% per annum in addition to material reductions in voluntary income, before our reserves dropped below the two months of normal operating expenditure minimum set by our Board. The Centre out-performed its 23-24 budget by more than £900k despite a continuing challenging economic environment. As a result, the Centre is in a resilient position. The creation of designated funds to support our resilience and future growth is an additional and sensible precaution. The Trustees therefore believe it is appropriate
The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. The accounts are presented in sterling and are rounded to the nearest thousand pounds.
## **CRITICAL ACCOUNTING ESTIMATES AND AREAS OF JUDGEMENT**
Preparation of the accounts requires the Trustees and management to make significant judgements and estimates. The items in the accounts where these judgements and estimates have been made include:
- the estimates of the useful economic lives of tangible fixed
for the charity to continue to prepare its financial statements on the going concern basis, and that the uncertainty of a range of considered risk as set out above, does not cast significant doubt on that conclusion.
The Trustees believe that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future, and thus, they continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the annual financial statements.
## **INCOME**
Income is recognised in the period in which the charity has entitlement to the income, the amount of income can be measured reliably, and it is probable that the income will be received.
Donations are recognised when the charity has confirmation of both the amount and settlement date. In the event of donations pledged but not received, the amount is accrued for where the receipt is considered probable. In the event that a donation is subject to conditions that require a level of performance before the charity is entitled to the funds, the income is deferred and not recognised until either those conditions are fully met, or the fulfilment of those conditions is wholly within the control of the charity and it is probable that those conditions will be fulfilled in the reporting period.
Legacies are included in the statement of financial activities when the charity is entitled to the legacy, the executors have established that there are sufficient surplus assets in the estate to pay the legacy, and any conditions attached to the legacy are within the control of the charity. Entitlement is taken as the earlier of the date on which either: the charity is aware that probate has been granted, the estate has been finalised and notification has been made by the executor to the charity that a distribution will be made, or when a distribution
is received from the estate. Receipt of a legacy, in whole or in part, is only considered probable when the amount can be measured reliably, and the charity has been notified of the executor’s intention to make a distribution.
Where legacies have been notified to the charity or the charity is aware of the granting of probate, but the criteria for income recognition have not been met, then the legacy is treated as a contingent asset and disclosed if material. In the event that the gift is in the form of an asset other than cash or a financial asset traded on a recognised stock exchange, recognition is subject to the value of the gift being reliably measurable with a degree of reasonable accuracy and the title of the asset having been transferred to the charity.
Grants and fee income from government and other agencies have been included as income from charitable activities where these amount to a contract for services, but as donations where the money is given in response to an appeal or with greater freedom of use, for example monies for core funding. Items donated to the Charity for resale, and sold through the shop, are included within income when sold and no value is placed on stock of such items at the period end. Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.
## **EXPENDITURE**
Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. All expenditure is stated inclusive of irrecoverable VAT. All expenditure is accounted for on an accrual’s basis. Support
**52**
**53**
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23
costs, are allocated or apportioned to the applicable expenditure headings. The classification between activities is as follows:
- Expenditure on raising funds includes all expenditure associated with raising funds for the charity. This includes staff costs associated with fundraising, direct costs associated with the operation of the charity’s shop, and an allocation of support costs.
- Expenditure on charitable activities includes all costs associated with furthering the charitable purposes of the charity through the provision of its charitable activities. Such costs include direct and support costs in respect to the provision of housing and residential services, advice and assessment, and learning and development services.
## **ALLOCATION OF SUPPORT AND GOVERNANCE COSTS**
Support costs represent indirect charitable expenditure. In order to carry out the primary purposes of the charity, it is necessary to provide support in the form of a finance function, human resources function, premises, communication and information systems support, and the contribution of the Chief Executive and Senior Management Team. Governance costs comprise the costs involving the public accountability of the charity (including audit costs) and costs in respect to its compliance with regulation and good practice. Support costs (including governance costs) are allocated to the above expenditure heading on a reasonable basis. This is further detailed within note 5 to the financial statements.
## **FIXED ASSETS**
## Fixed assets comprise:
Tangible fixed assets – assets with an expected useful life of three years or more and a purchase cost of over £1000. These are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is provided, once the asset has been brought into use, in order to write off
the cost of each asset over its estimated useful economic life, on a straight-line basis, as follows:
- Freehold property 5 to 50 years
- Fixtures, equipment, furniture and I.T. 3 to 10 years
Intangible assets: Digital transformation costs are capitalised when it is probable that the expected future economic benefits that are attributable will flow to the company and their costs can be reliably measured. Digital Transformation costs are initially recognised at cost and amortised over the expected useful life of five years.
## **INVESTMENTS**
Listed investments are a form of basic financial instrument and are initially recognised at their transaction value and subsequently measured at their fair value as at the balance sheet date using the closing quoted market price. Realised gains (or losses) in investment assets are calculated as the difference between disposal proceeds and their purchase value. Unrealised gains and losses are calculated as the difference between the fair value at the year end and their carrying value at that date. Realised and unrealised investment gains (or losses) are credited (or debited) in the year in which they arise.
## **DEBTORS**
Debtors are recognised at their settlement amount, less any provision for non-recoverability. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid. They have been discounted to the present value of the future cash receipt where such discounting is material.
## **CASH AT BANK AND IN HAND**
Cash at bank and in hand represents such accounts and instruments that are available on demand or have a maturity of less than three
months from the date of acquisition. Deposits for more than three months but less than one year have been disclosed as short-term deposits. Cash placed on deposit for more than one year is disclosed as a fixed asset investment.
## **CREDITORS AND PROVISIONS**
Creditors and provisions are recognised when there is an obligation at the balance sheet date as a result of a past event, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefit will be required in settlement, and the amount of the settlement can be estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are recognised at the amount the charity anticipates it will pay to settle the debt. They have been discounted to the present value of the future cash payment where such discounting is material.
The long-term loan repayable to the Westminster Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust is not discounted in accordance with the provisions set out in section 34 of FRS 102. Interest charges do not accrue on this balance and the loan is available indefinitely and not repayable on demand. The loan has not been restated to reflect the amount which would be repayable in the event of a sale of the property.
As there is no intention to sell this property at any foreseeable time, neither the amount which may be realisable, nor any discount factor can be reliably determined.
## **FUND ACCOUNTING**
General funds represent those monies which are freely available for application towards achieving any charitable purpose that falls within the charity’s charitable objects.
Designated funds comprise monies set aside out of unrestricted general funds for specific future purposes or projects.
Restricted funds represent donations received for which the donor has prescribed how these donations may be used, and these monies are only used for those specified charitable purposes.
Where funds are received to enable the Charity to acquire fixed assets for use in the delivery of its services, the funds are held as restricted income until the assets are acquired. When assets are purchased from such funds, and the asset is available for general charitable use, the restriction is regarded as discharged and the funds are transferred to the designated fund representing tangible fixed assets.
## **PENSIONS**
Contributions made to employees’ personal pension plans are debited to the statement of financial activities in the year to which they relate.
## **LEASES**
Leases are classified as finance leases whenever the terms of the lease transfer substantially all of the risks and rewards of ownership to the charity. Assets held under finance leases are recognised initially at the fair value of the leased assets (or the present value of minimum lease payments if lower) at the inception of the lease. The corresponding liability to the lessor is recognised as a finance lease obligation. Lease payments are apportioned between finance charges and the reduction of the lease obligation in order to achieve a constant rate of interest on the remaining balance of the liability. Finance charges are charged to the statement of financial activities. Assets held under finance leases are capitalised and depreciated and assessed for impairment losses in the same way as owned assets.
**54**
**55**
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23
## **2. INCOME FROM DONATIONS**
|**Year Ended 31st March 2024**
**Unrestricted**
**Funds**
**Restricted**
**Funds**
**Total Funds**
**2024**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**Donations**
Trusts
109
513
**622**
Individuals
491
-
**491**
Major Donors
554
57
**611**
Community Groups
188
3
**191**
Corporates
112
78
**190**
**Total Funds**
**1,454**
**651**
**2,105**|**Year Ended 31st March 2023**|
|---|---|
||**Unrestricted**
**Funds**
**Restricted**
**Funds**
**Total Funds**
**2023**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**|
||236
401
**637**
548
-
**548**
570
-
**570**
149
15
**164**
125
31
**156**|
||**1,628**
**447**
**2,075**|
## **4A. EXPENDITURE ON RAISING FUNDS**
|**Year Ended 31st March 2024**
**Direct**
**Costs**
**Support**
**Costs**
**Total**
**2024**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**Raising Funds**
Donations and legacies
374
140
**514**
Fundraisingtrading
30
26
**56**
**Total Funds**
**404**
**166**
**570**|**Year Ended 31st March 2023**|
|---|---|
||**Direct**
**Costs**
**Support**
**Costs**
**Total**
**2023**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**|
||335
118
**453**
28
29
**57**|
||**363**
**147**
**510**|
## **4B. EXPENDITURE ON CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES**
## **3. INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES**
|**Year Ended 31st March 2024**
**Unrestricted**
**Funds**
**Restricted**
**Funds**
**Total Funds**
**2024**
**£'000's**
**£'000's**
**£'000's**
Rent and service charges
473
-
**473**
City of Westminster Council
Supporting People
-
411
**411**
Other Grants
-
41
**41**
Fundingfor Advice Services
-
88
**88**
**Total Funds**
**473**
**540**
**1,013**|**Year Ended 31st March 2023**|
|---|---|
||**Unrestricted**
**Funds**
**Restricted**
**Funds**
**Total Funds**
**2023**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**|
||436
-
**436**
-
411
**411**
-
50
**50**
-
229
**229**|
||**436**
**690**
**1,126**|
|**Year Ended 31st March 2024**
**Direct**
**Costs**
**Support**
**Costs**
**Total**
**2024**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**Charitable Activities**
Housing and Residential Services
612
331
**943**
Advice and Assessment
713
500
**1,213**
Learning– Employment and FamilyServices
395
298
**693**
**Total Funds**
**1,720**
**1,129**
**2,849**|**Year Ended 31st March 2023**|
|---|---|
||**Direct**
**Costs**
**Support**
**Costs**
**Total**
**2023**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**|
||544
437
**981**
771
490
**1,261**
390
323
**713**|
||**1,705**
**1,250**
**2,955**|
**56**
**57**
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23
## **5. SUPPORT COSTS**
|**Total 2024**
**Principal basis of allocation**
**£000’s**
Executive Management and communications
Pro-rata to staffng costs
355
Financial Management
Pro-rata to staffng costs
182
Human Resources
Pro-rata to staffng costs
149
Information Systems
Pro-rata to staffng costs
115
Premises and facilities
Pro-rata to area used
437
Governance costs(see below)
57
**1,295**
**Governance costs**
Management and administrative staff
38
Audit Fee
19
**57**|**Total 2023**
**£000’s**|
|---|---|
||396
197
123
126
501
55|
||**1,398**|
||37
18|
||**55**|
## **7. EMPLOYEES AND KEY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL**
||**Total 2024**
**£000’s**
2,009
202
89
2,300
147
**2,447**
NIL
-
-
-
3
11
355
67|**Total 2023**
**£000’s**|
|---|---|---|
|**Staff wages during the period were as follows:**
Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Pension costs
Locums, temporarystaff and other staff costs||1,931
202
77|
|||2,210
194|
|||**2,404**|
|No Trustee received any payment
Trustee expenses reimbursed
Termination costs during the year
Employees receiving over £60,000 but less than £70,000
Employees receiving over £70,000 but less than £80,000
Employer pension contributions for higher paid staff (000)
Key Management Personnel Total Employment Costs (000)
Average Nunber of Employees||NIL
-
30
2
1
9
428
66|
## **6. NET INCOME AND NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS IS STATED AFTER CHARGING**
||**Total 2024**
**£000’s**
14
1
1
_3_
19
117
3|**Total 2023**
**£000’s**|
|---|---|---|
|Auditors Remuneration
Current year
Other Financial Services
Tax Advisory Services
_Irrecoverable VAT_
Depreciation
Amortisation||13
1
1
_3_|
|||18
160
-|
The key management personnel of the charity in charge of directing and controlling, running and operating the charity on a day-to-day basis comprise the Trustees, the Chief Executive and the Senior Managment Team (page 66 Trustees report).
The total employment costs of Key Management Personnel comprised employer's national insurance,pensions and termination costs.
SMT = Chief Executive Officer, Head of Advice, Head of Service Development, Senior HR Manager, Director of Finance and Operations and Director of Fundraising and Communications.
**58**
**59**
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23
## **8. FIXED ASSETS**
|**Freehold**
**Property**
**Fixtures,**
**Equipment,**
**Furniture & IT**
**Total**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**Cost**
At 1st April 2023
4,136
435
4,571
Additions
-
49
49
Disposals
-
(101)
(101)
**At 31st March 2024**
**4,136**
**383**
**4,519**
**Depreciation / Amortisation**
At 1st April 2023
1,262
371
1,633
Charge for Period
82
35
117
Disposals
-
(83)
(83)
**At 31st March 2024**
**1,344**
**323**
**1,667**
**Net Book Value**
At 1st April 2023
2,874
64
2,938
**At 31st March 2024**
**2,792**
**60**
**2,852**|**Digital**
**Transformation**
**£000’s**|
|---|---|
||-
19
-|
||**19**|
||-
3|
||**3**|
||-|
||**16**|
In order to expand the Centre’s work part of its freehold building was leased to Servite Houses, a registered housing association, at a peppercorn rent for a period of thirty years from March 2004.
The management is regulated by an agreement between the Centre and Servite Houses.
This grant, together with certain other smaller grants, would become repayable should there be any significant change in use of the property. There is no intention to make any such change.
Servite Houses developed the property into 32 individual residential units financed by a grant of £1,98M from the Housing Corporation with the balance provided from the Centre’s own resources.
## **9. DEBTORS**
|**2024**
**£000’s**
Prepayments and accrued income
684
Other Debtors
149
**833**|**2023**
**£000’s**|
|---|---|
||344
85|
||**429**|
## **10. CREDITORS**
|**2024**
**£000’s**
Expense creditors
54
Other creditors
15
Tax and social security
52
Financing loan – Barclays Bank
20
Accruals
30
**171**|**2023**
**£000’s**|
|---|---|
||47
90
100
20
27|
||**284**|
The Centre manages the property and receives income from licences granted in respect of the accommodation.
**60**
**61**
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23
## **11. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE AFTER MORE THAN ONE YEAR**
|**2024**
**£000’s**
Loan from Westminster Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust
339
Financingloan – Barclays Bank
680
**1,019**|**2023**
**£000’s**|
|---|---|
||339
702|
||**1,041**|
Westminster Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust has agreed that the loan, which is secured on the Charity’s freehold property, should remain outstanding (indefinitely and interest-free) unless the property is sold, when 50% of the net proceeds from the sale of the property will be repayable to the Trust.
See note 18 for obligations regarding the financing loan.
## **12. FUNDS**
|**12. FUNDS**||
|---|---|
|**Year Ended 31st March 2024**|**Transfers and Net**
**At April 1st 2023**
**Income**
**Expenditure**
**Gains on Investments**
**At March 31st 2024**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**|
|**General Fund**
**Designated Funds**
Fixed Asset Funds
Centre Growth Fund
Asset Replacement Fund
Covid Resilience Fund
Client Fund
Legacy Equalisation Fund
**Total Unrestricted Funds**
**Restricted Funds**
Housing & Residential Services
Advice & Assessment
Learning & Development
**Total Restricted Funds**|803
2,254
(2,175)
60
**942**
1,813
(60)
**1,753**
196
355
(21)
**530**
70
**70**
-
**-**
29
21
**50**
385
327
**712**|
||**3,226**
**3,027**
**(2,196)**
**-**
**4,057**|
||-
570
(555)
**15**
140
*479
(526)
**93**
-
142
(142)
**-**|
||140
1,191
(1,223)
-
**108**|
|**Total Funds**|**3,366**
**4,218**
**(3,419)**
**-**
**4,165**|
|**Year Ended 31st March 2022**|**Transfers and Net**
**At April 1st 2022**
**Income**
**Expenditure**
**Gains on Investments**
**At March 31st 2023**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**|
|**General Fund**
**Designated Funds**
Fixed Asset Funds
Centre Growth Fund
Covid Resilience Fund
Client Fund
Legacy Equalisation Fund
**Total unrestricted Funds**
**Restricted Funds**
Housing & Residential Services
Advice & Assessment
Learning & Development
**Total Restricted Funds**|697
2,328
(2,442)
220
**803**
1,933
-
-
(120)
**1,813**
196
-
-
-
**196**
100
-
-
(100)
**-**
29
-
-
-
**29**
240
145
-
-
**385**|
||**3,195**
**2,473**
**(2,442)**
**-**
**3,226**|
||0
499
(499)
0
**0**
26
487
(373)
0
**140**
0
151
(151)
0
**0**|
||26
1,137
(1,023)
0
**140**|
|**Total Funds**|**3,221**
**3,610**
**(3,465)**
**0**
**3,366**|
Designated funds – The fixed assets fund represents the net book value of tangible fixed property assets net of loans secured on those assets. The purpose of the other designated funds is set out on page 36. The brought forward balance on restricted funds represents unspent donated money still available for the period under review.
**62**
**63**
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23
## **13. ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS**
|**2024 Total Funds**|**Unrestricted Funds**
**General Funds**
**Designated Funds**
**Restricted Funds**
**Total 2024**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**|
|---|---|
|Tangible fxed assets
Net current assets
Creditors: Amounts fallingdue after oneyear|-
2,868
-
**2,868**
942
1,265
109
**2,316**
-
(1,019)
-
**(1,019)**|
|**2024 Total funds**
**2023 Total Funds**|**942**
**3,114**
**109**
**4,165**
**Unrestricted Funds**
**General Funds**
**Designated Funds**
**Restricted Funds**
**Total 2023**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**
**£000’s**|
|Tangible fxed assets
Intangible Fixed Assets
Net current assets
Creditors: Amounts fallingdue after oneyear|-
2,939
-
**2,939**
-
-
-
**0**
803
525
140
**1,468**
-
(1,041)
-
**(1,041)**|
|**2023 Total funds**|**803**
**2,423**
**140**
**3,366**|
## **14. TAXATION**
The company is a registered charity and is therefore not liable for corporation tax on income derived from its charitable activities, as
it falls within the various exemptions available to registered charities.
## **15. COMPANY STATUS**
The Charity is constituted as a company limited by guarantee. In the event of the company being wound up, members are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1.
## **16. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS**
The Charity has a loan from the Westminster Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust, which is secured on the Charity’s freehold property (see note 11). Bishop Nicholas Hudson, a Trustee of the Cardinal Hume Centre, is also a Director of the Corporate Trustee for the Westminster Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust.
During the year ended 31 March 2024, donations totaling £12,600 (2023-£12,642) were made by 9 trustees of the charity to the charity and by their connected parties (2023-2024).
## **17. CAPITAL COMMITMENTS**
The centre was not subject to any capital commitments at 31 March 2024 or 31 March 2023.
## **18. OBLIGATION UNDER BANK LOAN**
|**18. OBLIGATION UNDER BANK LOAN**||
|---|---|
|**2024**
**£000’s**
**Loan Repayments**
Within one year
20
Later than one, but not later than fve years
102
Later than fveyears
578
**700**|**2023**
**£000’s**|
||20
99
603|
||**722**|
The Centre took out a bank loan of £800,000 in 2019 to finance the Lower Ground Floor Building works. This loan is secured on the charity’s freehold premises at 3-7 Arneway Street. Capital repayments outstanding as at 31 March 2024 in respect of the loan are shown above.
**64**
**65**
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23
## **ORGANISATION DETAILS 2023/24**
## **TRUSTEES**
- Mark Hoban
- (Chair from Jan 2024)
- Mark Doran
- Robbert Arnott
- (Chair until Dec 2023)
- Philomena Egan
- Rebekah Etherington
- Samanthi Flanagan
- Bishop Nicholas Hudson
- William van Klaveren
- (until Dec 2023)
- Andrew Rose (Treasurer)
- Tim Walsh
- Taiwo Aina (from Dec 2023)
- Simon Enright (from Dec 2023)
- Clea Harmer (from Dec 2023) • Victoria McGuire (from Dec 2023)
## **COMPANY MEMBERS**
- Cardinal Vincent Nichols
- Nicholas Coulson
- John Darley
- John Gibbs
- Catherine Hickman
- Bishop Nicholas Hudson
- Philip Marsden
- Jocelyn Ridley
## **PATRONS**
- Cardinal Vincent Nichols
- Field Marshal, Lord Guthrie GCB LVO OBE DL
- Dom Christopher Jamison OSB
- Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws KC
- Lord Browne of Ladyton
- The Marquess of Lothian PC KC DL
- Jeremy Paxman
## **SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM**
- George O’Neill, Chief Executive
- Rachel Case, Director of Fundraising and Communications
- Helen Finely, Director of Finance and Operations
- Jo Bewley, Senior HR Manager
- Karen Davey, Head of Service Development
- Ed Emond, Head of Advice Services
- Susannah Davis, Head of HR (until Aug 2023)
**COMPANY SECRETARY**
- George O’Neill
## **AUDITOR SOLICITORS**
**Buzzacott LLP Stone King LLP** 130 Wood Street 13 Queen Square London Bath EC2V 6DL BA1 2HJ
## **BANKERS**
## **REGISTERED OFFICE**
**The Royal Bank of Scotland** 119/121 Victoria Street
3-7 Arneway Street Horseferry Road London SW1P 2BG
London
SW1E 6RA
**Barclays Bank UK PLC**
**T** 020 7222 1602
**E** info@cardinalhumecentre.org.uk **W** www.cardinalhumecentre.org.uk
Tottenham Court Road Branch 15-17 Tottenham Court Road London
@CardinalHumeCHC
@CardinalHumeCentre Company No: 04333875 Charity No: 1090836
W1T 1BH
**HSBC Bank**
333 Vauxhall Bridge Road Belgravia
Victoria
London
SW1V 1EJ
**CCLA**
Senator House
85 Queen Victoria Street London
EC4V 4ET
Our Family Centre.
**66**
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23
## **MAJOR SUPPORTERS AND FUNDERS**
## **Major Supporters**
With grateful thanks to the following organisations and individuals who gave significant support to the Centre during the year April 2023 – March 2024:
|**Organisations**
• Chapel Trust Carmelite Monastery
• Church of the Holy Name
• Civil Service Choir
• Convent of the Assumption
• Grail Companions
• Hakuna Matata
• Junior League of America, London|• St Anthony's Preparatory School
• St John Fisher, Chorleywood
• St Mary’s Church, Hampstead
• St Stephen with St John
• St Thomas More School
• The Emmanuel Kaye Foundation
• Westminster Cathedral
• Westminster Cathedral|• Christopher & Frances Kemball
• Damien Byrne Hill
• Dirk & Thea Lievens
• Dr Chin Chin Lee
• Dr Gianluca Squassi
• Evelyn & Patrick O’Sullivan
• Gerard Smith
• Harry Fitzalan Howard|• Philip Marsden Family
Charitable Trust
• Simone & Paola Verri
• Sir George & the late
Lady Tessa Bull
• Susan & Tim McCarron
• The Hickman family
• The Lyon Family Charitable Trust|
|---|---|---|---|
|• Little Company of Mary|Choir School|• Justin & Helene Read|• Tristan Hillgarth|
|• London Oratory School
• Marist Sisters Generalate
• Mayfield School
• Messenger of St Anthony UK
• Our Lady of Victories, Kensington
• Sisters of the Holy Cross
Charitable Trust
• Society of the Holy Child Jesus
• Society of the Sacred Heart
Charitable Trust|• Westminster Abbey
• Westminster Under School
• Woldingham School
**Individuals**
• Alastair & Lynwen Gibbons
• Brendan Hemming
• Brian Hornsby
• Catherine & John Simpson
• Chris & David Perrett|• Lady Howard de Walden
• Lady Maria Carmela Hambleden
• Lady Sarah Gough
• Margaret Ainscough &
Stephen Pollard
• Mary Scherer
• Monica and Sean Hunt
• Mrs Mary Gorham
• Oliver & Emma Pawle
• Paul Marsden|• Vivienne Muffty
_With sincere thanks to those donors_
_who choose to remain Anonymous._
_With humble thanks to all those_
_who remembered the Cardinal_
_Hume Centre through leaving a_
_Gift in their Will._|
_With sincere thanks to those donors who choose to remain Anonymous. With humble thanks to all those who remembered the Cardinal Hume Centre through leaving a Gift in their Will._
## **Trusts**
With grateful thanks to the following funders who contributed £5,000 or more during the year April 2023 – March 2024:
“Thank you” cards written to our Immigration Team.
- Benefact Trust • Cedar House Charitable Trust • Charles Hayward Foundation • City Bridge Foundation • City of Westminster Charitable Trust • Community Organisations Cost of Living Fund delivered by The National Lottery Community Fund
|• EBM Charitable Trust|• EBM Charitable Trust|• Northwick Trust|• The Mercers’ Company|
|---|---|---|---|
|• French Huguenot Church|• French Huguenot Church|• Sir Harold Hood’s|• Trust for London|
|of London Charitable Trust|of London Charitable Trust|Charitable Trust|• Westminster Almshouses|
|• Holbeck Charitable Trust|• Holbeck Charitable Trust|• St Giles and St George’s|Foundation|
|• Hyde Park Place Estate Charity|• Hyde Park Place Estate Charity|Education Charity|• Westminster City Council|
|• John Lyon’s Charity|• John Lyon’s Charity|• Strand Parishes Trust|• Westminster Foundation|
|• Kerbascol Trust|• Kerbascol Trust|• Streets of London|• William Allen Young|
|• London Legal Support Trust
• Mayor of London – New Deal|• London Legal Support Trust
• Mayor of London – New Deal|• Swire Charitable Trust
• The 29th May 1961 Charity|Charitable Trust|
|for Young People (Propel)|for Young People (Propel)|• The Childhood Trust||
**69**
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23 ~~ee~~
## **COMPANIES AND PARTNERS**
We are delighted to have worked with the following companies or partner organisations which supported the Centre’s work during the year April 2023 – March 2024:
|• 9 Kitchens
• Abbey Community
Centre
• Advice UK|• 9 Kitchens
• Abbey Community
Centre
• Advice UK|• Coram CLC
• Creative Sparkworks
• CSAN
(Caritas Social|• Jupiter Asset Management
• Justlife
• Kings College, London
• Landaid Charitable Trust|• RAGU
(Metropolitan University)
• REAP
(Refugees in Effective|• The Connection at
St Martins
• The Passage
• The Royal Borough of|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|• Bessborough Family Hub|• Bessborough Family Hub|Action Network)|• Landbay|& Active Partnership)|Kensington and Chelsea|
|• BNP Paribas|• BNP Paribas|• Department for Work|• Landsec|• Refugee Action|Employment Service|
|• Breaking Barriers|• Breaking Barriers|and Pensions|• Laptops4Learning|• Refugee Council|• The Science Museum|
|• Brett Grellier Psychology|• Brett Grellier Psychology|• Department of Education|• Latin American Women’s|• Refugees into Jobs|community engagement|
|Services|Services|• Depaul UK|Rights Service|• Renaisi|programme|
|• British Red Cross|• British Red Cross|• Dr Hickey’s Surgery|• Learning & Work Institute|• Rights Service|• Think Ahead|
|• Burger and Lobster|• Burger and Lobster|• ELATT|• LHA London|• Royal Academy|• Tyman|
|• Business in the
Community
• CAP|• Business in the
Community
• CAP|• Ember Yard
• ERSA
(Employment Related|• LMP Education
• London Heritage Quarter
• London Youth|of Arts
• Royal Palaces
Community Access|• UKGI
• Vicar’s Relief Fund
• Westminster Abbey|
|(Christians Against|(Christians Against|Services Association)|• Mary Ward Legal Centre|Scheme|• Westminster Adult|
|Poverty)|Poverty)|• Experian|• Metropolitan Police –|• SASH|Education Service|
|• Capital City College
• Care 4 Calais
• Caritas|• Capital City College
• Care 4 Calais
• Caritas|• Family Lives
• Felix Project
• Free2Learn|Safer Neighbourhood
Team
• National Gallery +New|• Savills
• Showcase Interiors
• Smartworks|• Westminster Befriend
a Family
• Westminster City Council|
|• Catholic Bishops|• Catholic Bishops|• Glasspool Charity Trust|Horizon Youth Centre|• South Westminster|(including cost of|
|Conference of England|Conference of England|• Grosvenor Property|• National History Museum|CMMH|living fund)|
|& Wales|& Wales|• Groundwork|• NHS Whittington|• St Andrew’s Youth Club|• Westminster Foodbank|
|• Celtic FC Foundation|• Celtic FC Foundation|• Grow Wild|Health Trust|• St Mungo’s|• Westminster Virtual|
|• Centrepoint Partnering|• Centrepoint Partnering|• HA Marks|• Nordoff and Robins|• St Patrick’s,|School|
|• Changing Futures|• Changing Futures|• Haringey Migrants|• One Westminster|Soho Square|• Wigmore Hall|
|• Channel 4
• Citizens Advice
Westminster
• City Lit
• Connexion Crew|• Channel 4
• Citizens Advice
Westminster
• City Lit
• Connexion Crew|Support Centre
• Home-Start WKCHF
• Housing Justice
• Imperial College London
• Insight Westminster –|(including Social
Prescriber team)
• Paddington
Development Trust
• Park Plaza Hotel|• St Vincent’s Family
Project
• StreetSmart
• Suited & Booted
• Tate Britain|• Wogen Resources
• Young Minds
• Young Roots
• Young Westminster
• Z2K|
|Acadamy
• Conscient Limited
• Construction Youth|Acadamy
• Conscient Limited
• Construction Youth|Blenheim CDP
• Intuit Quickbooks
• Jobskilla|• Pimlico Toy Library
• Pret a Manger
• Prince’s Trust|• The Berkeley Hotel
• The Clement James
Centre|• ZSL London Zoo|
- Celtic FC Foundation
- Connexion Crew Acadamy
- Conscient Limited
A parent and Family Services Practitioner Danielle with a quilt made by clients of the Centre during Refugee Week. Photo taken by the Fundraising team.
**70**
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023/24
Docusign Envelope ID: BD838ACE-29FB-4305-AB59-208DDC26BA23
_**Every individual must be given every opportunity**_ **“** _**to live a life in which his or her basic needs are provided for and in which so far as is reasonably possible, his or her full potential is realised. Each person matters. No human life is ever redundant.**_ Cardinal Basil Hume, Centre Open Evening, March 1994
Cardinal Hume Centre[|] 3-7 Arneway Street[|] Horseferry Road[|] London SW1P 2BG Company Number 04333875[|] Registered Charity Number 1090836