2023-03-31-accounts

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Company number: 05206298 Charity number: 1108160 OSCR number: SC041034

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Report and financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2023

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Reference and administrative information ...................................................................................... 1 Trustees’ annual report .................................................................................................................. 2 Independent auditor’s report ....................................................................................................... 28 Statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account) ................... 32 Balance sheet ............................................................................................................................... 33 Statement of cash flows ................................................................................................................ 34 Notes to the financial statements ................................................................................................. 35

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Reference and administrative information

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Company number 05206298 Charity number 1108160 OSCR number SC041034 Registered office CLAPA and operational The Green House, 244-254 Cambridge Heath Road address LONDON, E2 9DA Country of registration England & Wales Country of incorporation United Kingdom

Trustees, who are also directors under company law, who served during the year and up to the date of this report were as follows:

N Astor Chair J Bhachu Treasurer D Drake O Hopkins E Howes M Pinkstone R Slator Secretary A Strangeways until June 2023 J Williams A Beedham L Hughes S Handley M Spencer From October 2023 I Williams From October 2023 J Kerby From October 2023

C Cunniffe Company Secretary Bankers Barclays Bank plc Hatton Garden Business Centre 99 Hatton Garden LONDON, EC1N 8DN Auditor Sayer Vincent LLP Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditor Invicta House 108-114 Golden Lane LONDON, EC1Y 0TL

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Objectives and Activities

The Trustees present their report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023.

Reference and administrative information set out on page 1 form part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the Memorandum and Articles of Association and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102.

Purposes and Aims

The charity’s objects are set out in its governing documents, the Memorandum and Articles of Association (July 2004): “the relief of and support for all those with cleft lip, cleft palate or both or associated craniofacial birth anomalies; the promotion of research into the causes of and the relief, treatment or care of those with cleft lip, cleft palate or associated craniofacial birth anomalies and conditions or any of them and to publish the useful results of such research.”

The Trustees have paid due regard to the public benefit guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake. These activities are documented in the Strategic Plan for 2022-25, approved at the Trustee Meeting on 24[th] March 2022. This plan is available on the CLAPA website: www.clapa.com/strategy.

In this strategy, a new ‘Vision’ and ‘Purpose’ were agreed upon and communicated with the charity’s beneficiaries. These are as follows:

Vision: “No one affected by cleft lip and palate in the United Kingdom will go through their journey alone.”
Purpose: “CLAPA is the national charity for people affected by cleft lip and palate in the United Kingdom. We support people to take control of their journey, connect with others, and use their voices to impact the future of care.”

These statements reflect CLAPA’s status as a well-respected organisation with a vital role in the UK’s cleft community. The charity continues to grow its reputation for innovative, high-quality, evidence-based services for people affected by cleft as well as its valuable work with researchers and NHS Cleft Teams.

Despite ongoing external pressures – economic and otherwise – CLAPA has continued to sustainably fulfil its objectives and support stakeholders. Through strong leadership, good governance, innovation in fundraising and generous community support, the past 12 months have seen CLAPA make confident steps forward in its new Strategy. The past few years have been mired by challenges, but at the end of 2022/23, there is much cause for optimism as CLAPA looks towards the future.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

The Trustees review the charity's aims, objectives and activities each year. This report looks at what the charity has achieved and the outcomes of its work in the reporting period. The Trustees report the success of each key activity and the benefits the charity has brought to those groups of people that it is set up to help. The review also helps the Trustees ensure the charity's aims, objectives and activities remain focused on its stated purposes.

The Trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity's aims and objectives and in planning its future activities. In particular, the Trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set.

Beneficiaries and Services

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association is the national charity for people born with a cleft lip and/or palate in the United Kingdom. It aims to support these people and their families from diagnosis through to adulthood with comprehensive and reassuring information, a welcoming community of people with shared experiences, and evidence-based services and resources.

CLAPA works closely with the nine specialist NHS Cleft Services in the UK and generic health professionals to ensure that people born with a cleft receive the best possible care.

The charity's main activities are described below. All its charitable activities focus on supporting families and individuals affected by cleft and are undertaken to further CLAPA’s charitable purposes for the public benefit.

Services include:

Vibrant social Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram profiles promote positivity, bust myths, and celebrate differences with regular content created by and for the cleft community.
Online support groups moderated by trained volunteers provide an instant connection for those seeking an informal support network.
Regular online events allow people to share their experiences and concerns and hear from others at all stages of the cleft journey.
Confidential one-to-one support provided by trained volunteer patients and parents who reassure those most in need that they can cope with whatever lies ahead.
Information on cleft led by the needs and experiences of the cleft community and supported by experts.
An Advocacy Service providing tailored information and signposting to those with complex enquiries about accessing treatment and coping with the cleft journey.
Tailored support for children and young people born with a cleft which is led by a ‘Children and Young People’s Council’ of 12 to 17 year olds.
‘Youth Forward’ Instagram account and hard-copy magazine for children and young people.
Residential Weekends to help young people born with a cleft build confidence and make friends with others who share their experiences.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

A consultancy service for researchers which connects their work with the cleft community and promotes the patient voice at all levels.
A feeding service that supplies over 10,000 subsidised items of specialist equipment for babies born with a cleft each year, including free-of-charge items for new and vulnerable families.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Strategic Report

Achievements and Performance

In 2021/22, CLAPA’s one-year strategy launched the charity into a ‘digital-first’ future. This coincided with a significant staff restructure to enable faster and more focused development of services.

Producing a brand new strategy for 2022-25 proved a challenge, but the same boldness that served CLAPA well during the pandemic came into play here. The result is a forward-thinking strategy that will see CLAPA become a more focused, mature organisation which is rightly proud of its achievements and place in the cleft world.

In implementing the first year of this strategy, there has been a strong focus on developing services with clear impact and sustainability at their heart. There has been a shift in how CLAPA thinks and communicates about its work, and this will continue to develop throughout the strategic period. This approach has already borne fruit, with a hugely successful fundraising appeal putting CLAPA firmly on the right track in the second half of the year.

CLAPA’s dedicated staff team and passionate volunteers are the driving force behind the charity’s successes in 2022/23, and thanks to their creativity and innovation in an ever-changing environment, there is a great deal to celebrate this year.

Support Services

Feeding Service

Many babies born with a cleft cannot breastfeed or use regular feeding equipment. For over 30 years, CLAPA’s feeding service has supplied specialist bottles and teats to new parents and carers as well as hospitals around the United Kingdom. This equipment allows babies to quickly establish a feeding routine and leave the hospital faster after birth so families can enjoy those precious early weeks bonding with their baby at home.

CLAPA brought the Feeding Service online during the pandemic and has continued to develop it in consultation with NHS Cleft Nurse Specialists to ensure it remains a service that families and Cleft Services alike can trust and rely on.

In 2022/23, CLAPA sent 726 free ‘Welcome Packs’ of specialist bottles and teats to families around the UK. In total, CLAPA dispatched 11,457 items of feeding equipment to families and hospitals from the charity’s small office, including 162 free-of-charge items sent to vulnerable families at the request of their NHS Cleft Nurse Specialist.

“We were given some CLAPA ‘Dr Browns’ bottles when our son was born. He took to them straight away and it meant he fed really well despite his cleft. The specialist bottles look just like normal

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

bottles, not like a specialist feeding device. They are quite pricey to buy so we are ever so grateful that we got some funded by CLAPA. Thank you.”

Parent of a child born with a cleft

One-to-one Support

CLAPA’s Parent and Peer Support Service provides confidential one-to-one support to people affected by cleft. The trained volunteer supporters are parents and grandparents of people born with a cleft and adults born with a cleft themselves.

These Supporters are experts by experience who use their knowledge of the cleft care pathway to reassure those in need that they can cope with whatever lies ahead. The people using this service often have acute concerns they don’t feel able to share with the wider community, and this service gives them a way to express these worries in a safe and secure environment where they’ll find empathy and understanding.

In 2022/23, this service had 80 enquiries, 36 of which led to a match with a Supporter. The rest were signposted to a more suitable service within CLAPA, a partner organisation, or the NHS. The average wait to be matched up with a supporter from the moment of enquiry was five days.

This year, CLAPA struggled to get quantitative insights on the impact of this service, with a feedback form completion rate of just 20%. This form was updated in March in the hopes that, over the next year, it will generate statistics to demonstrate the success of this service alongside the verbal feedback from users.

“Support came quickly, post diagnosis as the moment most in need of support. L gave us lots of background on her experience and made us feel less alone, provided better understanding of the day to day challenges and how her family dealt with them - she was sweet caring and genuine. A real support in time of need.”

Parent using the Parent Support Service

“The below was super helpful. I managed to get a referral through my hospital to [a centre] who carried out the scan for us. Thank you again. This is a wonderful service you are helping support. It’s already made a huge difference to us.”

Parent using the Parent Support Service

In an exciting development in 2022/23, CLAPA piloted a Counselling Service where two student counsellors on placement provided more structured, in-depth support to those in need. Both student counsellors were born with a cleft and received training and support from CLAPA alongside clinical supervision for their placement. They spent 57 hours counselling the 11 people referred to the service from July to March.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Although it is still a pilot project, the Counselling Service has already seen fantastic results from those referred, demonstrating that the sessions have a substantial positive impact.

“The client […] presented with issues with self-esteem, depression and anxiety, which she felt was as a result of being born with a cleft lip and palate. Using a clinical scoring measure (CORE-10) her initial score was 25, which suggests severe levels of distress.

“After completing a number of counselling sessions, she has now scored herself a 7 which is a low level of distress and pretty much the opposite end of the scale! Goal-wise, she had met all of the original ones she set for herself bar one, which she feels she is on her way to achieving, and is happy with where she has got to with that too.

“The client has engaged very well and put in a huge amount of effort to get to this point and [the Counsellor] has enjoyed seeing her grow in confidence and getting ready for the next chapter in her life.”

Report on a referral to the Counselling Service

Advocacy Service

As the pandemic and Brexit continue to substantially impact the NHS, enquiries from the cleft community regarding access to cleft care remain high. Since its inception at the start of the previous year, the post of Advocacy Coordinator has continued to offer streamlined and consistent support and information to those getting in touch with complex enquiries.

The key themes for adults born with a cleft were returning to cleft treatment and accessing NHS care for complex dental issues. For parents and carers, enquiries were primarily concerning surgery, ongoing delays to their child’s cleft treatment and private healthcare. The issues raised in these enquiries are anonymously recorded so that they can inform CLAPA’s future service delivery and resource development in line with the new and emerging concerns of the cleft community.

“When we contacted CLAPA we found more than just a sympathetic ear; they provided expert advice on the options available to us and also had really useful insights into the status of cleft surgery across all nations and regions of the UK. The CLAPA team have established trusted relationships with cleft professionals throughout the UK. […] We are eternally grateful for the work of CLAPA and we don’t know how we would have navigated this difficult period without them.”

A parent who contacted CLAPA’s Advocacy Service

Online Events

CLAPA is committed to providing a variety of spaces where people affected by cleft lip and palate can share their experiences, receive practical advice, and find their ‘cleft community’. After taking its events online during the pandemic, CLAPA has continued to develop a schedule of diverse and engaging online events which welcome people from across the UK at all stages of their cleft journey.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

The needs and concerns of the cleft community lead the formats and topics of these events. Input can come from many sources, including official feedback forms, surveys, social media comments, or findings from other services.

In 2022/23, a strong focus on improving procedures and training volunteers has led to more events hosted and supported by volunteers, who contributed over 100 more hours to supporting CLAPA’s events than in the prior year. These volunteers can use their experiences with cleft and their training from CLAPA to steer the conversation and create meaningful connections with attendees.

All of CLAPA’s online events, including workshops and courses, were provided free of charge to the cleft community.

Events include:

Support Groups: Regular online meet-ups such as ‘Coffee Clubs’ and ‘CLAPA Lounges’ bring together people with similar experiences to discuss topics such as ‘diagnosis’, ‘cleft repair surgery’ and ‘grandparents’.
Wellbeing Events : These events provide the community a place to process feelings around cleft with others with similar experiences. The activities such as self-massage, arts and crafts, and talks from experts helped parents and carers to prioritise their wellbeing alongside caring for their child. This ongoing building of personal resilience helps parents and carers cope better with current and future cleft-related challenges.
Family Events: Children’s parties, bake-along events and other fun-focused gatherings allow families with similar experiences to come together and meet outside the hospital walls. These events help to bring a sense of joy and community to someone’s connection to cleft, rather than it being something which exists strictly in a medical context.
Skill workshops : Events have more of a lasting impact when they actively help to build confidence and skills so people can participate more fully in their or their child’s care. Current workshops focus on speech development, a particular area of concern since the pandemic. ‘Baby Signing’ classes help parents and carers communicate with young children, and a ‘Babble Workshop’ features NHS cleft-specialist Speech Therapists explaining how to encourage babies to make certain sounds at an early age.
Information Events : Live webinars and Q&As invite cleft experts answering common questions on topics such as orthodontic care, emotional wellbeing and hearing. Led by volunteers, these sessions help to demystify what can feel like complicated medical information. Due to the open format, the recordings of these events can then be edited into online video resources which continue to provide accessible information for many more people in the future.

In 2022/23, CLAPA ran 52 ‘ticketed’ online events. Of these, 71% were fully booked and 56% of bookings attended on the day; this is roughly in line with expectations for online events. These events welcomed 763 attendees made up of 451 individuals, meaning each person attended an average of 1.7 events.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Due to the higher number of events aimed at this group, new and expectant parents and carers made up 70% of attendees. Highlights included a new ‘Antenatal Support Group’ for expectant parents which started in June 2022, and ongoing ‘Baby Signing’ classes.

As CLAPA spent much of 2022/23 without an Adult Services Coordinator, adults born with a cleft made up just 9% of attendees this year. The majority of these bookings occurred in the final quarter of the year following a modification in the scheduling of the CLAPA Lounge events which are for adults. This alteration led to a fourfold increase in the number of bookings.

Children and Young People born with a cleft made up 11% of attendees, as service delivery for this group focuses on areas where there is significantly more engagement, such as in-person Residential Weekends.

Finally, 10% of attendees were friends and other family members of people born with a cleft, with most of these being grandparents. Adding a regular ‘Grandparents Coffee Club’ to the schedule has boosted engagement amongst this group by giving them a dedicated space to share their concerns and support each other.

Feedback for these events was excellent across the board, with an average score of 4.3 out of 5.

95% of respondents said these events helped them feel more connected with others in the cleft community (up from 83% the previous year)
89% felt more confident about their ability to cope with cleft-related challenges in the future
84% felt more positive about their connection to cleft lip and palate
87% felt more knowledgeable about the topic of the event (such as Baby Signing)

Over this year, CLAPA also ran two live Q&As on Dental Hygiene and Bullying which invited experts to answer community-submitted questions asked by volunteers. These live events gained 521 views during and after the livestream.

“I got so much more than I was expecting. Just listening to the volunteer’s experiences and having our questions answered was a huge help. Everyone was so friendly and supportive as well. Just having a platform where we could talk about it was so helpful.”

Parent who attended a ‘Coffee Club’ event

“This group really helps in actually getting me to talk about my cleft journey in a comfortable environment. [Hearing] others’ experiences and sharing information is so valuable.”

Adult who attended a ‘CLAPA Lounge’ event

"The really practical, straight forward advice given by the SLTs will make a real difference to how I support my baby’s speech development. It was an extremely useful & informative session, thank you.”

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Parent who attended a ‘Babble and Play’ session

Children & Young People’s Services

For children and young people born with a cleft, connecting with others who look and sound like them is crucial to building self-esteem and confidence so they can grow into adults who feel confident about their future.

The previous year saw the creation of the Children and Young People’s Plan, which has a vision of a world where young people feel confident and positive about having a cleft, and implementation began in earnest this year.

A key highlight of 2022/23 was the return of CLAPA’s ‘Residential Weekends’ after the pandemic. These weekends take 8-15-year-olds born with a cleft on a two-night stay at an activity centre where they enjoy outdoor games, team-building activities like climbing and kayaking, and lots of time to share their experiences and make lifelong friendships. The weekends are supported by specially trained adult volunteers who were also born with a cleft and can act as supportive role models for young people.

Three Residential Weekends were run in Buckinghamshire, Cheshire and Perthshire, welcoming 43 young people born with a cleft. Each young person attending a Residential Weekend gets a special video souvenir featuring clips and photos from their time away. Parents and carers were asked about the differences they’d noticed in their child’s behaviour and attitudes after the weekend, and 71% of answers agreed that there had been ‘a great extent’ of positive change across all measures.

“[My daughter] was really uncertain about going away, meeting other children with clefts and just wasn’t sure she would enjoy herself. She came home asking to go again in future. She has benefited from talking to others who have experienced similar things to her, e.g. operations, dealing with bullying. It’s given her the confidence to stand up for herself and challenge others when they’ve been cruel. The change in [her] confidence has been great to see. She continues to have issues in school but is now telling staff and challenging the children she’s had issues with. Thank you to all of the volunteers for making it such a positive experience for her.”

A parent whose child attended a CLAPA Residential Weekend in October 2022

“It was very special because everybody was born with a cleft like me. I had an operation the week after the residential and it was really nice to see other children who have operations. I made three really good friends.”

A young person who attended a CLAPA Residential Weekend in May 2022

CLAPA created a new ‘Cleft Youth’ brand to spearhead efforts to reach more young people born with a cleft with content created ‘by and for’ them. The dedicated @CleftYouth Instagram channel

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

aimed at 13-17-year-olds was launched in September 2022. A hard-copy ‘Cleft Youth’ magazine aimed at 5-12-year-olds was published in February 2023. In both cases, content features stories, facts and engaging, accessible advice from other young people.

Underpinning all of CLAPA’s decisions around these services is the Children and Young People’s Council (CYPC). The CYPC is a group of 12-17-year-olds born with a cleft who meet regularly to help CLAPA design services and resources and give valuable feedback to partner organisations and researchers.

In 2022/23, CLAPA’s Children and Young People’s Council:

Helped to put together the new Cleft Youth brand by giving feedback on designs and other decisions
Contributed articles, stories and suggestions for the Cleft Youth Magazine. One CYPC member acted as ‘Guest Editor’ and was involved in content, design and layout decisions throughout the publication process.
Created other content for the CLAPA website and social media pages, including contributing to Cleft Lip and Palate Awareness Week
Gave feedback on research projects and spoke to guests from other organisations
Contributed to several resources for other young people, ensuring the content, tone, and design was appropriate and engaging

“It was really nice to meet people who had been through the same experiences as me. It was also good to be able to pass on my experiences to younger members who were about have their bone graft operations. In the Zoom sessions I have enjoyed the games that we have played and also being able to shape the future of CLAPA and the CYPC. I like computers so I have been helping and advising on their social media plans. Being involved in the CYPC has boosted my confidence in talking about my cleft and the experiences associated with it. It has also helped me deal with and subsequently stop some bullying I have experienced in school.”

A new member of the CYPC reflecting on their experiences in July 2022

Adult Services

Around 90,000 adults in the UK were born with a cleft. Many are unaware they can access specialist treatment on the NHS for ongoing issues with their cleft, and those who try to get back into treatment often face barriers along the way. CLAPA provides research-driven resources and services to tackle the issues that matter the most to adults born with a cleft to help them feel in control of their cleft care.

After the tragic passing of the Adult Services Coordinator in early 2022, the Adult Services Officer maintained the service until September, with a new Coordinator recruited in October. Because of this, much of the year has centred on maintaining the service and making plans for future development.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Four ‘CLAPA Lounge’ events aimed at adults took place over the year and, after changes were made in line with feedback, welcomed record numbers of attendees coming to their first CLAPA event. The Adults’ Focus Group continued to meet regularly to give feedback on various areas of service and resource design as well as wider policy.

Over the year, the ‘Returning to Cleft Care’ guide for adults continued to be popular, with 94 packs sent to individual adults and 270 sent to NHS Cleft Teams around the UK to distribute to their patients upon discharge from the cleft service.

“[After 30 years without care], I thought this was what I had to live with for the rest of my life, and I was struggling big time. The support from CLAPA has given me hope - thank you so much. I've contacted a cleft care team directly, had an appointment with my GP and got the referral done, plus I've made contact to get peer support too. I have also told my boss at work - only the second person outside of family that I have spoken to about my cleft in 30 years!”

Adult giving feedback on the ‘Returning to Cleft Care’ guide in May 2022

Social Media

In a digital age, CLAPA’s social media presence is critical in reaching the one-in-700 people born with a cleft and their families all around the UK. As well as forming the cornerstones of the ‘cleft community’, it allows the charity to promote services, raise awareness, spread influence and celebrate accomplishments.

In 2022/23, CLAPA’s following on social media increased by 9% across platforms. The charity reached a new milestone of over 2 million people reached by posts including myth-busting graphics and heart-warming personal stories, up by nearly 350k people from the year before.

Nearly 180,000 people engaged with posts by liking, commenting and sharing, giving CLAPA an engagement rate of 8%, far above non-profit benchmarks of 1-2%. Over 8,500 people clicked through on posts such as news articles and event listings, driving new beneficiaries to the website and support services.

A key way CLAPA promotes the idea of a ‘UK cleft community’ is by sharing personal stories from people at all stages of their cleft journeys to inspire and reassure others. In 2022/23, 118 people submitted personal stories on top of themed #FundraisingFriday stories shared each week.

CLAPA’s online support groups for parents/carers and adults born with a cleft gained 616 new members in 2022/23. Trained volunteers moderate these groups and provide an instant connection for those seeking an informal support network. An average of 3,395 members actively visited the group daily to post updates, ask questions, support each other with comments, or just check in.

“I have never met anyone else with a cleft in real life, but seeing your posts with the beautiful photos and amazing stories from people with cleft makes me feel so ‘normal’! It’s nice that you

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

have adults too because I never see people who look like me. It’s incredible to have this whole community in my pocket, it makes me proud to tell people I’m part of an exclusive ‘one in 700’ club!”

Message received in July 2022

Community Involvement

Volunteers

CLAPA prides itself on involving the UK cleft community at all levels of its work, including asking volunteers to feed into and help run services wherever possible.

Volunteers are the backbone of CLAPA as a charity, and the continuing shift towards digital service delivery has created new, flexible ways for volunteers to give their time. Induction, training and ongoing supervision are provided for all volunteers, and eligible expenses are reimbursed. At the end of the financial year, CLAPA had 82 active, inducted volunteers.

CLAPA’s Board of Trustees are made up of volunteers, most of whom have a personal or professional connection to cleft lip and palate. As well as taking part in formal quarterly Board Meetings, the Trustees attended interim meetings and used their expertise to support CLAPA’s staff team for 390 hours in 2022/23.

Volunteers are essential to the successful running of CLAPA’s online events and, thanks to improved procedures and training, were able to take over hosting duties for many regular events. In total, they contributed 362 hours to preparing and hosting various online events in 2022/23, an increase of 100 hours from last year! Volunteers from the community also spent 90 hours helping with in-person Residential Weekends for children and young people born with a cleft.

Beyond events, volunteers spent 32 hours actively providing one-to-one support by phone and email to those in need, and two volunteer trainee Counsellors spent 57 hours providing this brand-new service.

As part of CLAPA’s dedication to involving people affected by cleft in service design and review as well as external cleft research, CLAPA supported volunteers to spend 245 hours participating in focus groups, ongoing Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) groups, and in other opportunities to make their voices heard. The Children and Young People’s Council (CPYC) of 15 12-17-year-olds is a particularly successful example of this, with these young volunteers spending 46 hours contributing to meetings and other projects in 2022/23.

Beyond this, volunteers have also spent 47 hours raising awareness of cleft amongst generic health professionals, including preparing and delivering six awareness-raising presentations and attending two ‘advice sessions’ in hospitals.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

After feedback, CLAPA changed the frequency of the Volunteer E-Newsletter to quarterly, boosting the open rate from 50% last year to 75% in 2022/23.

"My volunteer work has continued as a Peer Supporter, a role I have had for the past four years. I’m pleased to say that I’ve been able to assist several adults returning to surgery and those needing someone with a cleft to talk to. Toward the end of 2021, I was delighted to be invited to join the Adults Focus Group. With its own strategy and objectives, it is already making a difference. […] Several exciting objectives are planned for 2023 to progress ways to support adults with clefts. So, I look forward to continuing my volunteer journey with the Focus Group and as a Peer Supporter as part of CLAPA’S great work!"

Volunteer who was born with a cleft

“I have been a volunteer for CLAPA for around 11 years and have seen CLAPA develop and go through many changes. I have recently been involved in the Baby Sign classes, Antenatal Support Group, and listening in and supporting my son with his CYPC work. I want to make a positive impact to families going through similar circumstances to my own, and especially to families at the start of their cleft journeys. It is really rewarding to get feedback from parents and having a sense of making a positive difference to someone's life. CLAPA supports their volunteers really well - with regular contact and celebrating our involvement. It has been a really beneficial experience, both personally and professionally.”

Volunteer who has a child born with a cleft

Research Involvement

Even for those with lived experience, medical research into conditions like cleft can often feel inaccessible. CLAPA believes that everyone affected by cleft should have the chance to learn about current research and that opportunities to get involved should be available to all. The cleft community shares this sentiment; according to CLAPA’s Annual Survey, 95% agreed it was ‘important for cleft researchers to get feedback about their projects from people affected by cleft’.

For many cleft researchers, CLAPA is the gateway to the cleft community. As such, the charity supports many research projects by recruiting participants and arranging ‘Patient and Public Involvement’ opportunities. These opportunities can range from simple feedback forms about an information leaflet to CLAPA creating and supervising a group of people affected by cleft to act as a steering committee for an ongoing project.

These efforts are spearheaded by ‘CLAPA Voices’, a dedicated mailing list of people affected by cleft who are keen to use their experiences to impact the future of cleft care. In 2022/23, this list grew by 51 to 128 people. Mailings to this group average a 64% open rate, and members spent a total of 245 hours taking part in PPI activities, demonstrating their commitment to making their voices heard. Taking part in work like this and seeing the direct impact of their feedback can

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

inspire and empower those taking part. CLAPA is committed to expanding these opportunities by doubling the CLAPA Voices list next year.

In 2022/23, CLAPA received 40 requests for PPI, up from 22 the previous year. Of these, 38 opportunities were shared with CLAPA Voices and others in the cleft community (where applicable). Opportunities from researchers and the NHS comprised 28 of these, while ten were from CLAPA staff gathering feedback on initiatives and policy changes within the charity.

Researchers have praised the initiative and its impact on their projects, and participants have been able to receive support and encouragement with their involvement.

"CLAPA have been incredibly helpful and supportive in promoting our research. Through their assistance, our research team have been able to recruit members of the cleft community for our study with ease. I would highly recommend CLAPA's consulting services to fellow researchers."

Researcher who used CLAPA Voices

Alongside more ‘casual’ opportunities provided by CLAPA Voices, CLAPA has supported a number of larger scale research projects to refine their work and promote it to the UK cleft community. This includes The Cleft Collective, one of the largest cleft research projects in the world, and the SLUMBRS II study, which aims to find the best sleeping position for babies with a cleft palate. In 2022/23, CLAPA continued to run five ongoing PPI groups for projects like these, and started two new groups. These groups contain 55 members made up of 43 individuals, as several people sit on more than one group.

CLAPA’s success in this area has generated interest from NHS Cleft Services who are keen to engage with those under their care. CLAPA has been approached about putting together ‘Patient Engagement Groups’ which would help these Cleft Services ensure their work is informed by the needs and experiences of cleft patients and families in their areas. After scoring the feasibility of creating and supporting these groups across the UK in 2022/23, CLAPA now hopes to set up three groups within the next year.

It is clear that CLAPA’s role in cleft research is highly valued, and to ensure this work can continue, the charity has focused on growing its paid consultation services. CLAPA earned £5k for its work with researchers in 2022/23, and several promising projects will now include CLAPA as a paid contributor. It is hoped that this will become a reliable income stream in the future which will not only support this work but also raise CLAPA’s profile and increase its legitimacy in the eyes of the wider cleft research community.

This has raised a concern that, while most researchers recognise the incredible value of PPI, not all will have the funding on hand to pay for CLAPA’s services. With this in mind, CLAPA will launch a ‘bursary’ system where eligible projects can apply for funding to use CLAPA’s PPI and other consultancy services. This will ensure CLAPA’s work in this area will remain sustainable and highly valued whilst not excluding smaller projects from benefitting.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Annual Survey

One of many ways CLAPA gathers feedback to help shape its plans for the future is through its Annual Survey, which provides a snapshot of the cleft community’s needs, priorities and concerns.

The survey returned 229 responses (a significant increase on the 109 responses the previous year) from a broad mix of locations and connections to cleft.

CLAPA’s Diversity Committee carefully monitors the demographic data collected on respondents, as it is a valuable indication of which demographics are actively engaging with CLAPA’s work and, therefore, where CLAPA should focus new outreach efforts. Compared to the previous year, more respondents said they were adults born with a cleft, a partner/relative of someone born with a cleft, or the parent/carer of a child over five years old. This indicates CLAPA is becoming more successful in engaging people affected by cleft beyond those early years of a baby’s life.

The survey asked for respondents’ top concerns so these could feed into CLAPA’s work. Particular issues highlighted for parents and carers were the ongoing impact of the pandemic on cleft care, a lack of awareness of cleft amongst teachers and non-specialist health professionals, and how to support their children when starting or switching schools. For adults, top concerns included a lack of available, affordable dental care, long delays in cleft care, and a lack of knowledge and tact from generic health professionals. CLAPA is developing several resources to help support the cleft community with these issues.

Regarding CLAPA’s services, the responses were encouraging and showed that the cleft community highly valued all areas of the charity’s work. Those ranked as ‘most important’ were:

Working with the NHS to improve cleft services
Providing information on cleft
Raising awareness of cleft in the general public
Providing special bottles and teats

Since the pandemic, there has been a notable increase in how much the community values CLAPA’s work with the NHS and research groups. This is one of many reasons why partnership building and resource creation are critical components of CLAPA’s future strategy.

This survey asked in depth about barriers to accessing CLAPA’s services and what respondents would like to see regarding CLAPA’s events. The findings have directly fed into future service planning and have been instrumental in securing funding for these plans .

CLAPA published the results of this survey online and used this opportunity to lay out what support was available to address different concerns raised, as well as the plans to provide support for these issues in the future.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Other Activities

Cleft Lip and Palate Awareness Week 2022

Cleft Lip and Palate Awareness Week starts on the first Saturday of May each year. It is the charity’s flagship fundraising and awareness-raising event, inviting the cleft community to bust myths, share stories and help to fund CLAPA’s life-changing work.

Despite significant challenges in 2022 with staff sickness and turnover, CLAPA ran an engaging and successful Awareness Week, bringing together thousands of people affected by cleft in the UK.

A common myth about cleft lip and palate is that the condition is ‘fixed’ at a young age with a single surgery and doesn’t impact the rest of someone’s life. In reality, being born with a cleft can be the start of a lifelong journey of treatment on top of coping with insensitive questions and even discrimination. Therefore, the theme of ‘The Cleft Journey’ was chosen for 2022’s Awareness Week.

Around this theme, CLAPA shared a range of informational and inspirational posts and stories from people just starting their journey with a new diagnosis to those looking back on a lifetime of cleft treatment. A total of 30 stories from the community were shared during the week, as well as several press articles featuring CLAPA’s Patron, Carol Vorderman, about her connection to cleft lip and palate.

CLAPA’s content on social media was shared 1,850 times during Awareness Week, reaching 275,850 people.

The ‘Step Up for CLAPA’ step count challenge’ had another successful year, with 80 families signing up and raising over £15k during the week to support CLAPA’s work.

Subcommittees

CLAPA has three staff-led committees: the Diversity, Wellbeing and Safeguarding Committees. Staff members and Trustees interested in these areas volunteer to sit on these groups in addition to their usual roles.

In 2022/23, the Diversity Committee began a systematic review of support services using the ‘Accessibility and Inclusion Checklist’ created the year prior. They evaluated existing services on everything from the equipment needed to access resources to the wording used in promotional copy. Many adjustments were proposed, some of which were implemented shortly after (such as providing resources in alternative formats), and some were added to a ‘wish list’ of changes for CLAPA to make in the future when funding becomes available.

CLAPA has been communicating more openly and in stronger terms about its commitment to progressing in this area. This is reflected in the 2022 Annual Survey, where 86% of respondents agreed that CLAPA was a charity which valued accessibility, inclusion and diversity.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

In 2022/23, the Wellbeing Committee continued to meet monthly to examine and discuss staff wellbeing. Amongst several initiatives to boost staff morale were a virtual Christmas social and a new ‘Wellbeing’ channel on the charity’s internal communications system, where tips and ideas are regularly shared.

The achievements and actions of the Safeguarding Committee are discussed later on in this report.

Fundraising Activities

CLAPA’s historical fundraising practices revolved around community and challenge events, and there have been growing concerns about the future viability of these sources in a post-pandemic world. After the Head of Fundraising resigned in early 2022, the charity recognised that it needed to take radical action to ensure it would thrive in a challenging economic climate.

In June 2022, CLAPA engaged Joe Saxton, a senior charity consultant, who undertook a comprehensive review of the charity’s fundraising infrastructure and identified several areas needing attention. The results of this review were presented to CLAPA’s Board of Trustees in June 2022. It suggested that CLAPA’s historical reliance on community and challenge income was stifling its growth and that a bolder approach had to be taken towards fundraising asks to improve success rates.

At this time, falling income levels prompted the launch of a mini appeal to secure 250 new regular donors (called ‘CLAPA Champions’) by the end of the calendar year. This campaign gained 61 new donors with an annual value of £8,252 in its first thirty days and continued to grow until it reached its target in mid-December.

However, this alone did not reverse the income falling consistently under budget since the start of the year. By the end of September, reserve levels had fallen below our desired threshold, prompting emergency action. CLAPA’s new ‘Head of Income’ had joined the charity at the end of August, and was instrumental in putting these plans together.

The ‘#SaveCLAPA’ appeal was launched on 15th October 2022. It was a widespread call to action to the cleft community to inspire them to support CLAPA’s work and ensure the charity did not have to make cuts to vital services. The clear and strong messaging of this appeal saw instant success with 75 new ‘CLAPA Champions’ signing up in the first week worth over £10k annually. In that first week, 114 single donations were also made with a value of nearly £10k including Gift Aid.

The success of this appeal continued through to the New Year, with over £100,000 raised thanks to the generosity of people in the cleft community responding to this call for support.

The appeal was not just a success in terms of funding. It also necessitated rapid changes to CLAPA’s fundraising systems and resources, as well as the ways in which the charity talked about its need for funding from the cleft community. The spotlight on the appeal drove investment in

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

fundraising from the whole staff team, leading to a shift in culture which will be essential moving forward.

During the course of the appeal, a number of other areas were identified as being in need of development before CLAPA could fulfil its full potential in terms of fundraising. This led to the creation of an Income Generation Strategy in Q4 to drive these changes forward over the next three years. This strategy has since been approved by the Trustee Board and implementation has already begun.

In 2022/23, CLAPA had several other notable successes in fundraising, including:

Lauren McCondichie reached the final of Miss Scotland, raising £2,700 in honour of her grandmother who was born with a cleft palate
Securing a ‘Charity of the Year’ partnership with Radwell International
The ‘Tunes4Will’ fundraiser which raised over £20,000 in memory of a young person who had been involved with CLAPA’s work for many years.
Sing It Loud Choir raised £2000 for CLAPA throughout the year’s concerts and events.
Ross Olding raised over £3,000 by taking part in Movember.
Harpenden round table raised over £2800 through their Santa Sleigh collections.

Financial Review

Total income for the year 2022/23 was £648,624, compared to the 2021/22 figure of £553,858, an increase of 17%. Total expenditure for the year was £633,222, an increase of 10% on the 2021/22 figure of £577,868.

The surplus for the year 2022/23 is £15,402 an increase from the 2021/22 deficit of £24,010. This increase is overwhelmingly due to the successful #SaveCLAPA fundraising campaign and the strong focus on income generation in the second half of the year. CLAPA’s fundraising income has been a matter of concern for several years following the negative impact of the pandemic on faceto-face fundraising, and the figures for this year show a welcome reversal of fortunes as a result of trying a new approach.

The charity is keenly aware that the success of this emergency appeal is not something that will be easily replicated in the future. As such, it is putting a great deal of focus into diversifying its income streams through the new Income Generation Strategy.

CLAPA continues to generate unrestricted income from a range of sources, including Facebook, Just Giving and the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). Unrestricted income increased against the prior year and was 92.7% of total income in 2022/23, compared with 85.4% of total income in 2021/22.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

The total reserves, including restricted funding, were £240,281 compared to the 2021/22 figure of £224,879. The total reserves for 2022/23 represent 37.0% of total income, compared to 40.6% of total income in 2021/22. This is equivalent to 4.55 months of total reserves, slightly up from 2021/22’s figure of 4.67. The unrestricted free reserves for this year are £228,777, which equates to 4.34 months, compared to 2021/22 unrestricted free reserves of £157,206, equating to 3.26 months.

This year, the increase in consultancy costs reflects the use of fundraising specialists who provided support and expertise in generating trust and other income to make long-term improvements to the charity’s income generation prospects. There is also an increase in IT supplier costs which will be carefully reviewed in the next year. Overheads were much more closely in line with the budget than the previous year, reflecting the charity’s careful control of expenditure. Cost reduction and expenditure control continue to be a priority and the Senior Management Team and Finance Committee closely monitor the cash flow. These measures will continue for the foreseeable future, even whilst reserve levels are in line with the Reserves Policy.

The charity’s onward financial sustainability hinges on the success of the Income Generation Strategy. Given the recent wins in this area and the renewed investment in good fundraising practices, CLAPA is hopeful that the next few years will see many more reasons to celebrate.

The Trustees remain optimistic that CLAPA will remain a going concern and continue to closely monitor the financial performance of CLAPA on an ongoing basis.

Approach to Fundraising

CLAPA relies on the generosity of the UK cleft community to raise funds to support its work. This ranges from small single and regular donations from individuals right through to team challenge events like ultramarathons. CLAPA also receives funding from grant-making trusts and foundations as well as support from a small number of companies in the form of single donations or ‘Charity of the Year’ arrangements.

There is a great deal of overlap between CLAPA’s beneficiaries and its supporter base. As such, CLAPA is deeply committed to transparent, ethical fundraising practices and to ensuring the trust that fundraisers and donors give to the charity is well placed. While there has been a shift towards making the charity’s requests for donations more ‘urgent’, CLAPA is careful to ensure the tone of these asks does not put undue pressure on supporters and that people who cannot afford to donate are offered alternate means to meaningfully contribute towards the charity’s work.

The charity is a member of both the Fundraising Regulator and the Chartered Institute of Fundraising. As part of its membership of the Fundraising Regulator, CLAPA is signed up to the Fundraising Promise which ensures that it is clear, honest, open, respectful, fair, responsible and accountable in its fundraising. The charity complies with the relevant areas of Fundraising Regulator Codes of Practice.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

CLAPA has a robust complaints procedure in place which is easily accessible on its website. During the financial year 2022/23, there were no formal complaints received about the charity’s fundraising practices.

As part of CLAPA’s commitment to ensuring that its fundraising practices are fair and respectful, the Fundraising Team regularly reviews the Fundraising Regulator’s guidance to ensure that the charity’s practices protect all groups of donors and, in particular, those who are vulnerable.

CLAPA does not undertake fundraising activities such as face-to-face or door-to-door fundraising. No third parties or professional fundraisers currently undertake fundraising activities on CLAPA’s behalf.

Where CLAPA works with commercial organisations or suppliers (for instance, when purchasing places for its supporters at third party running or cycling events) it has contracts in place which ensure compliance with the relevant legislation.

CLAPA takes data protection extremely seriously. Personal information is never shared, unless it is with the explicit permission of the data subject and where it is necessary to fulfil their instructions, such as providing information necessary to register a participant on to a third party event. In addition to its own processes for updating communications preferences, CLAPA is registered with the Fundraising Preference Service (FPS) for those making blanket non-contact requests for charities. Staff attend mandatory annual Data Protection training to ensure ongoing compliance with GDPR and other relevant regulations.

Safeguarding

CLAPA is committed to safeguarding and ensuring the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk, and expects all Trustees, employees and volunteers to share this commitment. As such, the charity has robust safeguarding policies and procedures in place. This includes carrying out disclosure and barring checks as appropriate on those staff members whose roles involve working directly with children, young people and/or vulnerable adults. All members of staff receive annual safeguarding training as well as regular updates from the CLAPA Safeguarding Team throughout the year. The charity regularly reviews its safeguarding policies to ensure compliance with appropriate legislation and aims to meet best practice guidance from relevant bodies.

During the reporting period, eighteen safeguarding concerns were reported to the Safeguarding Team and escalated to the CLAPA Trustee with safeguarding responsibility. Appropriate action was taken for each. None of the concerns met the threshold which would require a report to the local authority Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) or the Charity Commission and are therefore considered closed.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Principal Risks and Uncertainties

The Trustees have approved a Risk Assessment for the charity and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks. At each Board meeting, the risk register is reviewed along with a sample of the risk management policies and procedures produced by the charity.

CLAPA’s main risks arise from the ongoing difficulties affecting many charities of less than £1m; namely, rising demand for services, increasing overhead costs and increased competition for grants.

The ‘cost of living’ crisis also presents a risk to staff morale and retention, and this is an ongoing focus of the Wellbeing Committee and Senior Management Team.

There continues to be significant uncertainty about income levels as a result of many external factors . To manage this risk, costs continue to be closely monitored and controlled on an ongoing basis and the charity is implementing a new ‘Income Generation Strategy’ to diversify its income streams.

Reserves Policy

CLAPA’s policy is that unrestricted funds should be maintained at a level equivalent to between three and six month’s expenditure. The Trustees consider that reserves at this level will ensure that, in the event of a significant drop in funding, they will be able to continue the charity’s current activities while looking at ways to raise additional funds. This level is monitored at each Board meeting, and the charity’s cash flow is monitored on a weekly basis.

Across the year, costs are carefully controlled in line with income so that reserves do not fall below unsustainable levels. This close monitoring of CLAPA’s finances meant that when the total reserves dipped to 2.98 months at the end of Q2, the team was able to act quickly to enact emergency measures in the form of the ‘ #SaveCLAPA ’ Fundraising Appeal. The income from this appeal brought CLAPA’s reserves back up to a healthy 4.36 by the end of Q3.

At the year-end total reserves were the equivalent to 4.55 months and reserves based on unrestricted funds were 4.34 months.

Plans for the Future

CLAPA’s 2022-2025 Strategic Plan has just completed its first year. This strategy focuses on three strands of activity:

Understanding the barriers preventing access to CLAPA’s services

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Building partnerships to provide more efficient, sustainable support
Creating enduring resources aimed at people at all stages of their cleft journey

A key focus of the strategy is sustainability, and so in 2022/23, a great deal of work has been put on securing funding for the projects identified in these three areas, with many of these due to launch in 2023/24.

These projects include:

Branding Review: In 2022/23, a number of offers of ‘pro bono’ support arising from the #SaveCLAPA Appeal led to the formation of a small committee to help CLAPA review its branding and communications to understand if these are a barrier to attracting more service-users and fundraisers. In 2023/24, independent research will be conducted which will make recommendations to the Board of Trustees about the way forward.
Young People’s Mentoring Project: Following the remarkable success of the ‘Tunes4Will’ fundraiser, further funding has been secured for a pilot project which will enable young people born with a cleft to receive mentoring from young adult volunteers through a moderated platform.
Pen Pal Project: A monitored ‘pen pal’ system to help Primary School aged children connect with each other and form lifelong friendships.
Psychological Support Groups: Aimed at adults born with a cleft and with the support of NHS Cleft Specialist Psychologists, these groups will help CLAPA to support the mental health and wellbeing of this demographic.
New Resources: New information resources are currently being planned on the topics of ‘starting school’ and ‘orthodontics’, two areas of particular concern for young people born with a cleft and their families.
PPI Bursary: A bursary system will be piloted to help lower-budget research projects access CLAPA’s PPI services. This pilot will help CLAPA to iron out the processes and better understand the costs involved before external funding is sought in 2024.
Clinician Survey: Running alongside CLAPA’s Annual Survey, this survey will measure knowledge of and engagement with CLAPA’s services to ensure that future strategies to involve Cleft Teams in promoting the charity’s work are evidence-based.
Fundraising Focus: The Income Generation Strategy will focus on redeveloping and strengthening the charity’s fundamental systems in 2023/24, with a view to increasing overall capacity in later years.

As well as sustainability being at the heart of these projects, CLAPA will continue to put focus on high-quality data collection and ongoing evaluation of its work to ensure services can continue to develop to meet the changing needs of the UK cleft community.

For the first time in what feels like a long time, CLAPA feels more in control of its future. The foundational work done by the CEO, SMT and Trustees over the last few years in terms of strategy, process and organisational structure is enabling progress. These monumental changes have kept the spirit of the organisation at heart while introducing agility and flexibility to meet new challenges and empower the team to make bold choices. Perhaps best exemplified by the Save

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

CLAPA Appeal, but also exhibited in every project and plan that the teams produce. One culturally specific development is that fundraising is more ingrained into each team member’s role. This shift has provided the entire organisation with a new, energised and focused perspective on what’s possible for CLAPA’s future. With our community and beneficiaries at the centre of everything we do, a more confident, robust and determined CLAPA will be able to do even more in the future.

– Nick Astor, Chair of CLAPA Trustees and father of a child born with a cleft

Structure, Governance and Management

The charity became a company limited by guarantee in 2005, and its governing documents are the Memorandum and Articles of Association. In 2009, the Trustees passed a resolution agreeing to change the Memorandum and Articles of Association so that CLAPA could be registered as a charity in Scotland (SC041034).

All Trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. Any expenses reclaimed from the charity are set out in note 7 of the accounts.

Appointment of Trustees

The Trustees hold full responsibility for the activities of the charity, and the power to appoint new Trustees lies with the Trustees in office at the time. The Trustee Board regularly reviews its membership to ensure that it has a balance of health professionals and people affected by cleft, and that it has the necessary skills to fulfil its duties as well as support the charity’s activities.

Trustees are recruited through open competition. Role descriptions are advertised widely through the charity and volunteer websites. Applicants are shortlisted and interviewed by a panel of existing Trustees alongside the Chief Executive Officer. Once a suitable candidate is selected, an offer of appointment is made.

No new Trustees were appointed in 2022/23. Amelia Strangeways came to the end of her 2[nd] term of office in June 2023 and stepped down. Rona Slator, and the Chair of the Board, Nick Astor will step down in October and November respectively. In October 2023, 3 new Trustees are joining the board – Jane Kerby, Melanie Spencer and Isabel Williams. Recruitment is also underway for a new Chair of Trustees and a new HR Trustee to replace Emma Howes who intends to step down once a replacement has been appointed.

In March 2014, the Board agreed to introduce a maximum term of office of two terms of three years. If, during their second term, a Trustee is appointed to a significant role such as Chair, Treasurer or Secretary, they can remain a Trustee until they have served a maximum of three years in that office.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Each year in September, the Trustees hold an ‘Away Day’ which includes the Annual General Meeting (AGM). This is an opportunity for the Trustees and staff team to review the strategy and the activities of the last year and to start to plan for the next year.

CLAPA’s Community are invited to contribute to CLAPA’s strategy through online surveys, direct communication, CLAPA Voices, the Adults Focus Group and Children and Young People’s Council.

Related Parties and Relationships with Other Organisations

CLAPA has a wide variety of strategic partnerships with other charities and organisations to broaden its range of stakeholders and increase its impact. In light of the charity’s current strategic plan, continuing to create and grow partnerships like this is of great importance.

Partners include:

The NHS Cleft services, each of whom now have a ‘CLAPA Link’ to ensure regular two-way communication.
Third sector partnership groups such as the Appearance Collective, the Shared Learning Group for Patient Involvement, the Vision for Volunteering Network, and the British Heart Foundation’s Peer Support Network.
Health related collectives and organisations such as the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.
Related research groups such as SLUMBRS2, Cleft Care UK, the Cleft Collective, and the Centre for Appearance Research.
NHS/EU related groups such as Cleft Development Group (CDG) and Clinical Studies Group (CSG).
Other charities, such as the European Cleft Organisation (ECO), Scar Free Foundation, Changing Faces, Young Minds, Headlines, and the charities involved in the ‘Connecting Communities’ collaboration in Scotland.
Commercial partners, such as Crown Worldwide, MAM, Central Medical, and Handi-Craft.

Remuneration Policy for Key Management Personal

CLAPA’s HR Committee is responsible for advising the Board of Trustees on the appropriate levels of pay for members of the Senior Management Team. When the budget for the financial year ahead is being drafted, the Chief Executive makes recommendations to the Chair of the HR Committee on any inflationary increases or salary changes.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Any recommendations for salary increases are benchmarked against similar posts at similar sized organisations in the voluntary sector using published salary services and publically advertised positions. If a recommendation for an inflationary / cost of living increase is made, only staff who have been in post for 6 months or more at the start of the next financial year will be eligible for this increase. The Chief Executive’s salary is set and reviewed by the Board of Trustees.

In 2022/23, as a result of the ongoing ‘cost of living crisis’, the charity made a one-off payment of £150 to all staff in December. A pay rise of 5% was approved for all staff from April 2023 in order to ensure the salaries offered by CLAPA were brought into line with salaries in other similarly sized charities.

Statement of Responsibilities of the Trustees

The Trustees (who are also directors of The Cleft Lip and Palate Association for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ annual report and the 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 charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period.

In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP
Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements
Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation

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

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

In so far as the Trustees are aware:

There is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditor is unaware
The Trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Members of the charity guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charity in the event of winding up. The Trustees are members of the charity but this entitles them only to voting rights. The Trustees have no beneficial interest in the charity.

Auditor

Sayer Vincent LLP was appointed as the charitable company's auditor during the year and has expressed its willingness to continue in that capacity.

The annual report has been approved by the Trustees on 10 October 2023 and signed on their behalf by:

Jasvinder Bhachu Trustee

Independent auditor’s report

To the members of

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Cleft Lip and Palate Association (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2023 which comprise the statement of financial activities, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland’ (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

Give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2023 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended
Have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice
Have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulation 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended)

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 Cleft Lip and Palate Association’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.

Independent auditor’s report

To the members of

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

The information given in the trustees’ annual report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements
The trustees’ annual report 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’ annual report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) require 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; or
The trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies’ exemptions in preparing the trustees’ annual report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.

Independent auditor’s report

To the members of

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the statement of trustees’ responsibilities set out in the trustees’ annual report, 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

We have been appointed as auditor under section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with regulations made under those Acts.

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 are set out below.

Capability of the audit in detecting irregularities

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:

We enquired of management, internal audit and the audit and risk committee, which included obtaining and reviewing supporting documentation, concerning the charity’s policies and procedures relating to:
Identifying, evaluating, and complying with laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance;
Detecting and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspected, or alleged fraud;

Independent auditor’s report

To the members of

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

The internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations.
We inspected the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.
We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework that the charity operates in, focusing on those laws and regulations that had a material effect on the financial statements or that had a fundamental effect on the operations of the charity from our professional and sector experience.
We communicated applicable laws and regulations throughout the audit team and remained alert to any indications of non-compliance throughout the audit.
We reviewed any reports made to regulators.
We reviewed the financial statement disclosures and tested these to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
We performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that may indicate risks of material misstatement due to fraud.
In addressing the risk of fraud through management override of controls, we tested the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments, assessed whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias and tested significant transactions that are unusual or those outside the normal course of business.

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

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.

Independent auditor’s report

To the members of

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

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 and section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. 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.

Noelia Serrano (Senior statutory auditor) Date: 27 October 2023 for and on behalf of Sayer Vincent LLP, Statutory Auditor Invicta House, 108-114 Golden Lane, LONDON, EC1Y 0TL

Sayer Vincent LLP is eligible to act as auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account)

For the year ended 31 March 2023

For theyear ended 31 March 2023
Note Income from: 2 3 4 5a 5a 6 Reconciliation of funds: 17 Total funds carried forward Net movement in funds Total funds brought forward Net income / (expenditure) for the year Raising funds Total expenditure Charitable activities Donations and legacies Charitable activities Total income Expenditure on: Other trading activities	Unrestricted £ 367,040 139,794 94,377	Restricted £ 47,413 - -	2023 Total £ 414,453 139,794 94,377	Unrestricted £ 256,184 113,337 103,719	Restricted £ 80,618 - -	2022 Total £ 336,802 113,337 103,719
	601,211	47,413	648,624	473,240	80,618	553,858
	222,995 307,572	- 102,655	222,995 410,227	201,143 269,525	- 107,200	201,143 376,725
	530,567	102,655	633,222	470,668	107,200	577,868
	70,644	(55,242)	15,402	2,572	(26,582)	(24,010)
	70,644 160,189	(55,242) 64,690	15,402 224,879	2,572 157,617	(26,582) 91,272	(24,010) 248,889
	230,833	9,448	240,281	160,189	64,690	224,879

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Movements in funds are disclosed in Note 18a to the financial statements.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Company no. 05206298

Balance sheet

As at 31 March 2023

As at 31 March 2023 Balance sheet			Company	no. 05206298
Note Fixed assets: 11 Current assets: 12 13 Liabilities: 14 18a Total unrestricted funds Total charity funds The funds of the charity: Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Net current assets Total net assets Restricted income funds Unrestricted income funds: General funds Cash at bank and in hand Tangible assets Stock Debtors	£ 26,928 35,913 273,347	2023 £ 2,056	£ 35,418 27,854 205,623	2022 £ 2,983
		2,056 238,225		2,983 221,896
	336,188 (97,963)		268,895 (46,999)
	230,833		160,189
		240,281		224,879
		9,448 230,833		64,690 160,189

		240,281		224,879

Approved by the trustees on 10 October 2023 and signed on their behalf by

Jasvinder Bhachu Trustee

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Statement of cash flows

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Reconciliation of net income / (expenditure) to net cash flow from operating activities

£ £ 67,724 - - 67,724 205,623 273,347 2023	2023 £ 15,402 927 8,490 (8,059) 50,964	2022 £ (24,010) 8,193 (23,083) (6,876) (6,505)
	67,724	(52,282)

67,724 205,623		(54,194) 259,817
273,347		205,623

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2023

1 Accounting policies

a) Statutory information

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association is a charitable company limited by guarantee and is incorporated in England and Wales.

The registered office address and principal place of business is The Green House, 244-254 Cambridge Heath Road, London, E2 9DA.

b) Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) - (Charities SORP FRS 102), The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note.

In applying the financial reporting framework, the trustees have made a number of subjective judgements, for example in respect of significant accounting estimates. Estimates and judgements are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances.The nature of the estimation means the actual outcomes could differ from those estimates. Any significant estimates and judgements affecting these financial statements are detailed within the relevant accounting policy below.

c) Public benefit entity

The charitable company meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

d) Going concern

The 12 months to 31st March 2023 continued to be a challenging period affected by the fall in donations income due to the cost of living crisis and lingering impact of Covid-19 on fundraising activities.

The persistent uncertainties in society and the economy have posed significant obstacles to the charity's ability to generate income this year. This was particularly noticeable during the first half of the year, as efforts were being made to recruit a new Head of Income. Moreover, the majority of grants previously allocated for service delivery were reaching their conclusion, requiring focused attention on reporting. As a result, the charity could not seek additional funding until later in the year.

During the second half of the year, CLAPA successfully launched a fundraising appeal that served as a reminder to the community about the essential funding needed for the charity’s vital services. This appeal led to a doubling in the number of committed monthly donors. Additionally, CLAPA was able to secure funds from corporate partners and received several grants for service delivery and infrastructure development. As a result, the year concluded on a very stable note overall.

A significant amount of effort was dedicated to establishing services that not only had a positive impact on the charity's beneficiaries but also appealed to potential future funders. Despite the income challenges faced in the previous year, CLAPA has effectively utilised its funds while maintaining good cost control. This has enabled the charity to maintain an average of 3 months' worth of free reserves, ensuring financial stability.

As a result of the actions taken by the Trustee Board and Senior Management Team, the reserves position has continued to improve into the new financial year. At the end of July, total reserves including restricted funding were £297k equivalent to 5.5 months of expenditure and the unrestricted reserves were £237k equating to 4.4 months.

Results since year end continue to be positive, with strong steps taken towards improving CLAPA’s income for years to come. A new Income Generation Strategy has been approved by the Board of Trustees and is now being implemented. The strategy is predicated on three key areas:

1. Sustainability

Addressing the current lack of multi-year funders and income generating strategies
Reducing the reliance on ‘good-will income’ – secured through low sustainability channels that can be highly variable

2. Diversity

Improving the income stream diversity and reducing our reliance on grants and trusts fundraising to cover our staffing costs
Addressing our fundraising efficiency, looking particularly at the ROI on each income line and our staffing model

3. Reach

Finding new ways to keep our small but passionate supporter base engaged
Increasing reach beyond our core audience by introducing new products in order to grow/attract new income

The strategy is already bearing fruit with the securing of a 3 year grant from the National Lottery Community Fund (Reaching Communities –England ) totalling £244k and 2 additional multiyear funding applications which have since been successful. This, coupled with the increased number of committed regular donors and income already secured for projects in 2023/24 gives CLAPA a much increased level of secured income than in previous years.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2023

1 Accounting policies (continued)

e) Income

All incoming resources are included in the statement of financial activities when the charity becomes entitled to the income and the amounts can be measured reliably.

Donations are recognised upon receipt and income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid is recognised at the time of the donation.

Grant income is recognised upon receipt or, if earlier, at the time the charity becomes entitled to it.

Income from government and other grants, whether ‘capital’ grants or ‘revenue’ grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred. Legacies are recognised on receipt or otherwise if the charity has been notified of an impending distribution, the amount is known, and receipt is expected.

f) Interest receivable

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.

g) Fund accounting
Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure which meets these criteria is charged to the fund.

Unrestricted funds are donations and other incoming resources received or generated for the charitable purposes.

h) Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

Resources expended are recognised in the period to which they relate.

Direct charitable expenditure comprises all the expenditure relating to the activities carried out to achieve the charitable objectives.

A proportion of Support costs is allocated to fundraising and to Charitable activities involving and supporting people affected by clefts and improving services.

Governance includes the costs of compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements. A proportion of governance costs is allocated to fundraising and to Charitable activities.

Staff costs have been allocated on the basis of time spent.

i) Operating leases

Rental charges are charged on a straight line basis over the term of the lease.

j) Tangible fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost less depreciation. Items costing less than £500 are not capitalised. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost less estimated value of each asset over its expected useful life, as follows:
Website development costs
Fixtures and fittings
33.33% straight line 25% reducing balance

The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year.

k) Stocks Stocks are stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value. In general, cost is determined on a first in first out basis and includes transport and handling costs. Net realisable value is the price at which stocks can be sold in the normal course of business after allowing for the costs of realisation. Provision is made where necessary for obsolete, slow moving and defective stocks.

Stock held for free distribution for fundraising purposes is included at nil value. Stock held for free distribution with a charitable purpose is accounted for based on service potential.

l) Debtors

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

m) Cash at bank and in hand

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

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2023

1 Accounting policies (continued)

n) Creditors and provisions

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

o) Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value with the exception of bank loans which are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

p) Pensions

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. Contributions are charged in the accounts as they become payable in accordance with the rules of the scheme.

2 Income from donations and legacies

Income from donations and legacies
Gifts Grants receivable Income from charitable activities Groups, Clubs, Other Sub-total for Groups, Clubs, Other and Branches Feeding Service Other Merchandise/Literature sales Postage Sub-total for Feeding Service and other sales Total income from charitable activities	Unrestricted £ 367,040 -	Restricted £ 2,350 45,063	2023 Total £ 369,390 45,063	Unrestricted £ 256,184 -	Restricted £ - 80,618	2022 Total £ 256,184 80,618
	367,040	47,413	414,453	256,184	80,618	336,802
	Unrestricted £ 59,890	Restricted £ -	2023 Total £ 59,890	Unrestricted £ 38,974	Restricted £ -	2022 Total £ 38,974
	59,890 63,972 5,611 10,321	- - - -	59,890 63,972 5,611 10,321	38,974 60,688 5,725 7,950	- - - -	38,974 60,688 5,725 7,950
	79,904	-	79,904	74,363	-	74,363
	139,794	-	139,794	113,337	-	113,337

3 Income from charitable activities
4 Income from other trading activities

Income from other trading activities
Income from events	Unrestricted £ 94,377	Restricted £ -	2023 Total £ 94,377	Unrestricted £ 103,719	Restricted £ -	2022 Total £ 103,719
	94,377	-	94,377	103,719	-	103,719

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2023

5a Analysis of expenditure (current year)

Staff costs (Note 7) Depreciation Feeding equipment Meeting and conference costs Other services Office costs Audit fees Fundraising costs Support costs Governance costs Total expenditure 2023 Total expenditure 2022	Raising funds £ 93,738 - - - - 8,563 - 49,481 151,782 32% 59,909 11,304 222,995 201,143	Charitable activities £ 161,224 - 53,180 8,124 43,410 13,285 - - 279,223 68% 110,209 20,795 410,227 376,725	Governance costs £ 18,256 - - 186 1,620 727 11,310 - 32,099 (32,099) - -	Support costs £ 122,441 927 - - 5,749 41,001 - - 170,118 (170,118) - - -	2023 Total £ 395,659 927 53,180 8,310 50,779 63,576 11,310 49,481	2022 Total £ 406,255 8,193 48,728 - 32,811 60,044 9,840 11,997
					633,222 - -	577,868 - - 577,868
					633,222

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2023

5b Analysis of expenditure (prior year)

Staff costs (Note 7) Depreciation Feeding equipment Other services Office costs Audit fees Fundraising costs Support costs Governance costs Total expenditure 2022	Raising funds £ 110,513 - - - 6,020 - 11,997 128,530 32% 62,155 10,458 201,143	Charitable activities £ 159,790 - 48,728 21,878 10,330 - - 240,726 68% 116,411 19,588 376,725	Governance costs £ 17,627 - - 2,035 544 9,840 - 30,046 - (30,046) -	Support costs £ 118,325 8,193 - 8,898 43,150 - - 178,566 (178,566) - -	2022 Total £ 406,255 8,193 48,728 32,811 60,044 9,840 11,997
					577,868 - -
					577,868

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2023

6 Net (expenditure) / income for the year

This is stated after charging / (crediting):

This is stated after charging / (crediting):
	2023	2022
	£	£
Depreciation	927	8,193
Operating lease rentals:
Property	24,735	24,781
Auditor's remuneration (excluding VAT):
Audit	9,425	8,200

7 Analysis of staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses, and the cost of key management personnel

Staff costs were as follows:

Staff costs were as follows:
Social security costs Employer’s contribution to defined contribution pension schemes Salaries and wages	2023 £ 357,018 27,554 11,087	2022 £ 366,728 27,544 11,983
	395,659	406,255

No employee earned between £60,000 and £70,000 during the year (2022: nil). There were redundancy costs of nil (2022: nil).

The charity's key management personnel comprises of the Board of Trustees and the Senior Management Team.

Included within the Senior Management Team are the following: Chief Executive, Impact & Influence Manager, Finance and Operations Manager, Engagement & Services Manager and Head of Income.

Total remuneration (Salary, NI, Allowances, Pension) paid to the Senior Management Team in the year amounted to £184,172 (2022: £196,243).

None of the Trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration during the year. Trustees were reimbursed travel expenses £79 (2022: Nil).

8 Staff numbers

The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year was 15 (2022: 16).

Raising funds Sale of feeding equipment Support Administrative	2023 No. 4.1 1.2 5.9 3.8	2022 No. 3.9 1.2 7.1 3.8
	15.0	16.0

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2023

9 Related party transactions

Aggregate donations from related parties were £1,088 (2022: £860).

There were no other related party transactions to disclose for 2023 (2022: none).

10 Taxation

The charitable company is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes.

11 Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets
Cost or valuation At the start of the year All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes. At the end of the year At the end of the year At the start of the year Charge for the year At the start of the year Additions in year At the end of the year Depreciation Net book value	Fixtures and fittings £ 5,210 -	Website development £ 32,464 -	Total £ 37,674 -
	5,210	32,464	37,674
	2,467 687	32,224 240	34,691 927
	3,154	32,464	35,618
	2,056	-	2,056
	2,743	240	2,983

12 Stock

Finished goods

2023 £ 26,928	2022 £ 35,418
26,928	35,418

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2023

13 Debtors

Debtors
Prepayments Trade debtors Other debtors	2023 £ 12,028 12,278 11,608	2022 £ 4,185 9,403 14,266
	35,913	27,854

All of the charity’s financial instruments, both assets and liabilities, are measured at amortised cost. The carrying values of these are shown above.

14 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
	2023	2022
	£	£
Trade creditors	10,298	29,311
Other creditors	3,329	730
Accruals	25,244	16,958
Deferred income (note 15)	59,091	-
	97,963	46,999

15 Deferred income

Deferred income relates to project funds where the funder has specified expenditure should take place in the next financial year.

Balance at the beginning of the year Amount released to income in the year Amount deferred in the year Balance at the end of the year	2023 £ - - 59,091	2022 £ - - -
	59,091	-

16 Pension scheme

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund.

The charge to profit or loss in respect of defined contribution schemes was £8,753 to CLAPA scheme (2022: £8,882), £2,153 to private (2022: £3,390).

17a Analysis of net assets between funds (current year)

Analysis of net assets between funds (current year)
Net assets at 31 March 2023 Tangible fixed assets Net current assets	General unrestricted £ 2,056 228,777	Restricted £ - 9,448	Total funds £ 2,056 238,225
	230,833	9,448	240,281

17b Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year)

Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year)
Net assets at 31 March 2022 Net current assets Tangible fixed assets	General unrestricted £ 2,983 157,206	Restricted £ - 64,690	Total funds £ 2,983 221,896
	160,189	64,690	224,879

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2023

18a Movements in funds (current year)

18a Movements in funds (current year)
JAME SCOT Eng Total restricted funds General funds Restricted funds: Northern Ireland Smile Train (England) The VTCT Foundation (Collaborative programme Scotland) England Region Scotland Restricted The James McGowan Scholarship Fund Scotland Region BBC Children in Need (Scotland) UK Wide The VTCT Foundation (Adult Services project) BBC Children in Need (England) Highway One Trust Total unrestricted funds Total funds The Wood Foundation The VTCT Foundation (Investing in CLAPA’s fundraising capabilities) The National Lottery Community Fund (Awards for All)	At 1 April 2022 £ 8,316 9,500 18,838 - 9,227 4,597 2,704 - - - 11,508	Income & gains £ - - - 2,350 23,189 - - 9,920 11,121 833 -	Expenditure & losses £ (1,372) (9,500) (18,838) (2,350) (32,416) (4,597) (200) (9,920) (11,121) (833) (11,508)	Transfers - - - - - - - - - - -	At 31 March 2023 £ 6,944 - - - - - 2,504 - - - -
	64,690	47,413	(102,655)	-	9,448
	160,189	601,211	(530,567)	-	230,833
	160,189	601,211	(530,567)	-	230,833
	224,879	648,624	(633,222)	-	240,281

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2023

For the year ended 31 March 2023
18b JAME SCOT Eng Total restricted funds General funds Restricted funds: The Robertson Trust Total unrestricted funds Total funds The VTCT Foundation (Collaborative programme Scotland) England Region Northern Ireland The James McGowan Scholarship Fund Scotland Region The Wood Foundation Lillie Johnson Pears Foundation UK Wide The VTCT Foundation (Adult Services project) Movements in funds (prior year) Smile Train (England) BBC Children in Need (England) BBC Children in Need (Scotland)	At 1 April 2021 £ 7,668 2,875 3,329 26,900 - - - - - 50,500	Income & gains £ 1,735 - 9,500 - 36,223 19,660 10,000 3,000 500 -	Expenditure & losses £ (1,087) (2,875) (3,329) (8,062) (26,996) (15,063) (10,000) (296) (500) (38,992)	Transfers - - - - - - - - - -	At 31 March 2022 £ 8,316 - 9,500 18,838 9,227 4,597 - 2,704 - 11,508
	91,272	80,618	(107,200)	-	64,690
	157,617	473,240	(470,668)	-	160,189
	157,617	473,240	(470,668)	-	160,189
	248,889	553,858	(577,868)	-	224,879

Purposes of restricted funds

The James McGowan Scholarship Fund

The fund was established by CLAPA at the wish of the family and friends of James, who died suddenly in 2007. CLAPA administers the fund on behalf of the scholarship committee, which gives awards for the purpose of striving for excellence in the care of patients born with cleft lip and palate in Northern Ireland, but has no control over its spend.

Scotland Region

The following grants were Restricted funds that funded part of the costs of the Scottish region:

The Robertson Trust contributed to the salary of the Scotland Coordinator

BBC Children in Need provided funding towards the costs of running activities for children and young people in Scotland

Scotland Restricted - small grants received for work in the geographical areas of Scotland.

The VTCT Foundation - Collaborative work in Scotland

The VTCT Foundation gave a grant to help explore the feasibilty of developing a programme of collaborative work with key partner charities working in similar fields in Scotland

England Region

The Regional Coordinators programme was also funded from restricted and unrestricted funds Restricted Funding is made up from the following providers :-

Smile Train provided funding for our Community Engagement Coordinator’s salary and part funding for the salary of our External Engagement Coordinator

BBC Children in Need gave a grant for children and young people’s services in England

Pears Foundation provided funding to contribute towards the salary costs of our Advocacy Coordinator

The Wood Foundation provided a grant to cover the cost of Welcome Packs for families in Edinburgh

Lillie Johnson provided a grant to support our work with families in the West Midlands

Highway One Trust - provided funding to improve fundraising infrastructure.

The VTCT Foundation (Investing in CLAPA’s fundraising capabilities) - The VTCT Foundation have given a 1 year grant provided funding for our Head of Income's salary.

The National Lottery Community Fund (Awards for All) - Provided a grant for a pilot of Cleft++ a Online mentoring project for 12-17 year olds, including staffing costs.

UK Wide

VTCT Restricted Fund Adult project

This is a 3 year grant for a research project exploring and developing support services for adults affected by cleft in the U.K. As a result of the pandemic, the timescale for this grant has been extended.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2023

19 Operating lease commitments

The charity's total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases is as follows for each of the following periods

periods
One to five years Less than one year	Property 2023 £ 10,449 -	2022 £ 10,314 -
	10,449	10,314

20 Legal status of the charity

The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. The liability of each member in the event of winding up is limited to £1.

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Contents

For the year ended 31 March 2023

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Objectives and Activities

Purposes and Aims

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Beneficiaries and Services

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Strategic Report

Achievements and Performance

Support Services

Feeding Service

For the year ended 31 March 2023

One-to-one Support

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Advocacy Service

Online Events

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Events include:

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Children & Young People’s Services

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Adult Services

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Social Media

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Community Involvement

Volunteers

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Research Involvement

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Annual Survey

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Other Activities

Cleft Lip and Palate Awareness Week 2022

Subcommittees

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Fundraising Activities

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Financial Review

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Approach to Fundraising

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Safeguarding

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Principal Risks and Uncertainties

Reserves Policy

Plans for the Future

Trustees’ annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2023

These projects include:

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Structure, Governance and Management

Appointment of Trustees

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Related Parties and Relationships with Other Organisations

Remuneration Policy for Key Management Personal

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Statement of Responsibilities of the Trustees

For the year ended 31 March 2023

Auditor

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association

Opinion

Basis for opinion

Conclusions relating to going concern

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association