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← Communicare In Southampton

2024-03-31-accounts

Registered Company No.5430846 Registered Charity No.1110427

Report of the Trustees

Year Ended 31 March 2024

Communicare in Southampton

The Trustees have pleasure in presenting their report and the financial statements of the Charitable Company for the period ended 31 March 2024.

Purposes and Aims

The Charitable Objects of Communicare in Southampton are set out in the Articles of Association and are as follows:

  1. For the public benefit and within the ethos and principles of the Christian faith, to promote social inclusion among the inhabitants of Southampton and the surrounding areas, particularly those living alone, by preventing people from becoming socially excluded, relieving the needs of those people who are socially excluded and assisting them to integrate into society.

For the purpose of this clause ‘socially excluded’ means being excluded from society, or parts of society, on the grounds of old age, ill health (physical or mental), disability or infirmity.

The Trustees have:

How the activities have delivered the public benefit

Communicare in Southampton’s principal activities were carried out across Southampton City, from our main office at 6, Northlands Road and from the homes of paid staff where appropriate. Our drop-in sessions at satellite offices were reduced to one weekly slot in Woolston at Your Key Space, Centenary Quay, which we are grateful to be given access to free of charge.

The charity continues to seek to help those in need by providing practical help and friendship for isolated people living in the city of Southampton. Our successes over the period have been achieved by the dedicated work of our “Communiteers”. We had 310 volunteers registered at the end of March, coordinated and supported by 11 salaried employees (6.75 40h/wk FTE).

The Charity delivers a high quality but cost-effective service that is competitive. The value of what is achieved is measured not only by comparison to what other service providers charge, but more importantly by the trust that has been earned from health and social care professionals and caring organisations; as well as the enduring relationships that are developed with our clientele and their families.

Communicare in Southampton continues to value partnership working and has maintained, developed and extended this aspect of service delivery during 2023 – 24. We have been linked with a variety of organisations with similar goals and ethos to support the local community. These include (but are not limited to) University of Southampton, Unpaid Carers in Southampton, Southampton Sight, Highfield Church, Social Care in Action (SCiA), Southampton Voluntary Services, Shirley Baptist Church, St. Mark’s Church (Archers Road), Caraway, the Community Wellbeing Team, SCPA (Southampton Children’s Play Association), Saints Foundation, St Patrick’s Church, King’s Church, St Mary’s Church (City Centre), St Mary’s Church (Sholing), Southampton Solent Rotary and Wessex AHSN.

We’re also delighted to have been supported by several local businesses: Spectrum Signs & Workwear Ltd, Drop the Mask, Eling Studios, Social Care in Action, Your Key Space, Bamboo, BUPA and Aurem Care. We have also received support from Southampton Solent Rotary and Rotary Club of Southampton Magna.

Communicare was a member of Hampshire Good Neighbours, Hampshire Chamber of Commerce, Woolston Millennium Garden, Action Hampshire, Southampton Mental Health Network, Southampton Voluntary Services, Love Southampton and Southampton Christian Network. It is also a Community Partner with Solent NHS.

Communicare in Southampton

Progress on plans proposed in Trustee’s Report 2023 – 24.

The continuing impact of the pandemic, together with the challenges from the rising cost of living and a shrinking public purse affected the way that Communicare in Southampton was able to deliver on its objectives. In addition other organisations were reducing activities in areas that overlapped with Communicare, resulting in a greater demand for our services.

To tackle this we continued to develop new ways of engaging and managing volunteers, together with developing services to maximise the impact of the volunteers available.

We also remained focused on working in partnership with other organisations wherever possible.

Key areas of focus included:

Communicare in Southampton

Postal Project

Our regular service user newsletters continue to be very popular, fostering a sense of belonging and connection even when people are on a waiting list for help.

With around 50% of those we support not digitally active this is also a vital way of providing service users with information about opportunities on offer with both Communicare and other organisations, including statutory providers.

CommuniBakes

Our commercial arm, CommuniBakes, a small community bakery located at 21 St James Road, Shirley, has continued to grow and develop. Whilst it has taken longer to be able to feed funds into the charity than initially predicted (due to unexpected changes in the economic climate) it was able to begin contributing during this financial year by providing free catering for Communicare events.

Southampton Mental Health Network (SMHN)

Whilst SMHN is now a registered charity in its own right, Communicare has continued to play a leading role in its development. The organisation has a vision to “Make Southampton a Mental Health Friendly City”, thereby contributing to the social inclusion of those who may otherwise struggle to get involved.

Paid staff who deliver the day to day work of the new charity are hosted and managed through Communicare as they work towards achieving a size that will allow them to operate independently in the future.

Future Plans

Southampton continues to face challenging circumstances, with its residents experiencing poorer health and greater economic challenges than most other cities of a similar size in the UK. With funding becoming more scarce and services on offer by both statutory and voluntary organisations being stretched beyond capacity Communicare will need to explore every possible avenue to allow it to continue to make a difference to the lives of those who come to us for help. The key areas of focus during the period from April 2024-March 2025 will largely extend the work of the previous year and will include:

Communicare in Southampton

programmes

~~a~~ Who we’ve helped

Our volunteers touched the lives of 860 individuals or families with 2,816 requests.

Some 201 individuals were supported by our volunteers as part of partnership working with:

Of those helped 69% were over 65 years of age, and 36% (37% 2022-23) were over 80.

Figure 1 - Age Profile of Service Users 2023-24

Communicare in Southampton

The majority of those helped (59.8%) were experiencing some form of social difficulty (isolation/loneliness), followed by those with a physical challenge (54%) and 33.1% of those helped had some form of mental health issue.

Figure 2 - Primary Reason for Referral 2023-24

Communicare in Southampton

~~ee~~ The type of help we’ve given

In total we provided 535 lifts for service users for a variety of reasons. This includes medical and social appointments, attending Lunch and Friendship Clubs or activity sessions. 161 lifts were provided by SCA minibuses.

Our transport volunteers drove approximately 5,564 miles this year[1] .

Our volunteers provided approximately 26,640[2] hours of individual acts of kindness.

The support we provide enables our service users to continue to live as independently as possible, in their own homes.

Figure 3 - Number of Service Users Helped, by Type of Request 2023-24

Figure 3 provides information about how many service users have been helped with each individual task. It should be noted that some service users have been helped with multiple types of request.

1Calculated by multiplying the number of individual trips by the average volunteer’s mileage claim per request. Based on 4 volunteer mileage submissions in 2023-24.

2Calculated by average time spent per request multiplied by the number of requests completed in the period. Based on 33 volunteers’ submissions in 2023-24. The estimated number of hours provided by Hello Southampton callers was added, as well as an estimate for the young visitor's project, using the average number of volunteers and the number of hours the project runs for each week.

Where do our service user referrals come from? ~~ee~~

Communicare in Southampton

70% of the referrals to Communicare continued to come from health and social care professionals and caring organisations, a reflection of the trust placed in Communicare over the 33 years of its existence.

Figure 4 - Source of Referrals 2023-24

Waiting list

At the end of the year, 495 service users were on a waiting list for one or more of our services. Of these, 126 people were only waiting to be invited to tea parties or one-off events, leaving 369 service users waiting for one or more services (375 people in 2022 – 23, 319 people in 2021-22). Some of these individuals may have been receiving support from one of our services while waiting for another, e.g. someone may have been having Hello Southampton calls and waiting for a telephone befriender.

There were 274 service users who had not yet been supported in any way by 31[st] March 2024 (except with the postal project and assessment visits).

Volunteers (“Communiteers”)

Communicare in Southampton

Our Communiteers have worked tirelessly to make a real difference in our community and Communicare relies on their continued dedication and commitment.

Drop-ins for volunteers, including conferences and information sessions, are held to provide support and build a better understanding of requirements. In 2023-24, some of these have been face-to-face and some online. Where appropriate, volunteers are subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service check.

Our Coordinators continue to use our extensive volunteer induction packs, given to volunteers at induction, providing an additional level of support for the volunteers in the form of a go-to pack. Our monthly newsletters are also an easy way for us to keep our volunteers in-the-loop with current information and training.

This year we have extended our “Patch” meetings, which cater for smaller geographical locations. This provides an opportunity volunteers to meet others in their area, to share experiences of volunteering, learn from and encourage each other.

Membership

Members are asked to renew their membership annually and pay a £2 fee for registration. This allows the charity to track its membership more effectively and ensure that members are positively opting into engagement with the organisation.

Membership of the charity is open to church representatives, individuals and organisations who support the work of the charity and who live, work or reside in Southampton or the surrounding area.

Governance

Our Manager, Anne Clewlow continues to manage the staff and oversee Communicare’s day-to-day operational activities. The Manager reports to the Trustees at their regular meetings. Strategic management, including adoption of policies, of Communicare is undertaken by the Trustees.

Communicare in Southampton

Members and Trustees of Communicare guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charitable company in the event of winding up. There were 42 guarantors at 31 March 2024.

Trustees

Recruitment of Trustees

The charity periodically recruits Trustees as the need arises, focusing on areas of knowledge and expertise that will add to the strength of the team. Opportunities are advertised through the networks already open to the organisation (e.g. church groups) and also via Southampton Voluntary Services.

The directors for the purpose of Company Law and Trustees for the purpose of Charity Law, that served during the year and up to the date of this report and are set out below:

Trustee Induction and Training

All new Trustees receive a copy of “The Essential Trustee” CC3 and an outline of their responsibilities. In addition, new and existing Trustees are encouraged to attend specific training and update courses.

Responsibilities of the Trustees

Company Law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of Communicare in Southampton and its surplus or deficit of income over expenditure for that period. In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees follow best practice and:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that show and explain the charity’s transactions which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity 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.

Principal Funding Sources

During 2023-24 84.9% (84.5% 2022-23) of funding was from grants.

Communicare began work with Saints Foundation on a 3 year Partnership Grant from the National Lottery.

Reserves Policy

It is the policy of Communicare in Southampton to maintain unrestricted funds, which are our free reserves, at a minimum level of up to approximately six months unrestricted expenditure. At 1[st] April 2024 there were reserves available to cover 6 months of expenditure.

Communicare in Southampton

With pressure on core grant givers (such as SCC) which will result in reductions or suspensions of income to the charity, our reserves may be adversely affected going forward. The Trustees have set up a Finance Steering Group to monitor this closely, and explore alternative revenue sources.

Risk Review ~~eee~~

The Trustees have considered the major risks to which Communicare in Southampton is exposed and have put in place policies and systems to mitigate these risks. Volunteers are protected under the insurance policy of umbrella organisation: The Hampshire Good Neighbours Network provided by Capital Markets Underwriting Ltd. We have a wide range of policies including Adult & Child Safeguarding, Health and Safety, Equal Opportunities, Financial Reserves, Data Protection and Gifts and Legacies. Cyber security is provided through subscription to Allteks.

~~ee~~ Small Company Exemption

This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006.

By Order of the Board

10[th] October 2024

Anne Clewlow, Company Secretary

Registered Office:

Shirley Baptist Church, Church Street, Southampton, Hampshire SO15 5LG

Communicare in Southampton

INCOME
Donations
Service Users
Regular Giving
Volunteers
Churches
Other
DONR Text Giving
Amazon Smile Donation
General Donations
JustGiving Donations
Fundraising
Marathon Fundraising
Tree of Light
General Fundraising
Business Events
Plant Sale
SO:Lotto
Easy Fundraising
Work for Good
Co-op Local Community Fund
Membership Fees
Commercial Project
Communibakes
Commercial Project
Robin's Nest
Grants
NHS Hampshire & IOW (Better at
Home)
Mental Health Network
Saints Foundation (Saints Care)
National Lottery Community Fund
National Lottery Uplift Grant
SCC Grant
Hampshire & IOW Charitable
Foundation
SCA Transport (Travel Buddies)
Henry Smith Grant
Grants General
SU Shopping
Payment
Tax Refund on Gift Aid		 2023-24
of which Gift
Aided
£2,263.26
£450.00
£11,783.84
£8,911.00
£1,002.46
£627.85
£1,202.68
£215.00
£-
£35.12
£2,153.10
£1,490.68
£20,146.14
£2,759.97
£1,671.98
£779.00
£1,408.17
£2,000.00
£394.59
£358.50
£182.98
£1,296.20
£0
£10,072.39
£64.00
£-
£-
£58,033.00
£49,018.00
£38,823.00
£-
£-
£8,250.00
£3,000.00
£1,825.00
£-
£10,764.68
£199,996.21
£-
£-		 2022-23
of which Gift
Aided

£5,108.58
£915.63

£8431.00
£8,381

£1,862.02
£282.71
£1,852.00
£1,808.99
£33.25
£47.10
£909.49
£3,534.21
£23,586.64
£2,273.08

£1,261.66
£748.50
£1,783.36
£3,410.00
£374.35
£462.00
£90.64
£255.62
£215.31
£10,126.02
£110.00
£-
£198.92
£9,999.50
£13,886.00
£51,564.50
£24,750.00
£5,000.00
£98,902.00
£204,102.00
£39.60
£3349.67
£241,512.85
TOTAL INCOME £199,996.21

Communicare in Southampton

EXPENDITURE
Salaries and NI
Pensions
Staff Expenses
Volunteers' Expenses
DBS Fees
Rent
Telephone & Internet
Social Events (Volunteers & Tea
Parties)
Postage & Office Supplies
Insurance
Fundraising Expenses
Website & Publicity
Training
Volunteer Conference
IT Expenses
Fees
Equipment
Robin's Nest
Shopping Reimbursement
Other Expenses		 £169,869.46
£2,997.47
£1,414.25
£2,609.04
£58.16
£14,600.03
£6,436.37
£2,336.09
£9,900.54
£332.24
£188.49
£16,461.04
£2,590.73
-£25.00
£8,023.23
£2,449.00
£382.91
£-
£-
£44.00		 £203,054.37

£3,404.53

£1,309.31

£6,395.31

£-

£5,627.78

£3,828.88

£1,847.14

£9,824.72

£321.20

£672.00

£22,445.88

£6,218.43

£209.99

£4,887.96

£2,316.52

£1,192.05

£122.20

£39.40

£220.00
TOTAL EXPENDITURE £240,668.05
£273,937.67
NET LOSS(-)/SURPLUS -£40,671.84
-£32,424.82

Balance Sheet at 31 March 2024

Balance Sheet at 31 March 2024
2023-24 2022-23
Fixed Assets
Current Assets £216,587.80 £257,259.64
Cash at Bank and in Hand £216,587.80 £257,259.64
Other Debtors - -
- -
Net current assets less current
liabilities £216,587.80 £257,259.64
Total assets less current liabilities £216,587.80 £257,259.64
Liabilities - -
Total net assets less liabilities £216,587.80 £257,259.64

The Trustees are of the opinion that the charitable company is entitled to exemption from audit under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006, relating to small companies. No notice has been deposited under Section 476 of the Act in relation to the accounts for the period.

The Trustees acknowledge their responsibility for:

Communicare in Southampton

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 and with the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (effective April 2008).

The financial statements were approved by the Trustees on 16[th] September 2024.

Anne Clewlow, Company Secretary

Barrie Worth, Chair of Trustees

Balance Sheet ~~ee~~

BALANCE
SHEET		 2023-24 2022-23
Reserves brought forward £257,259.64 £289,684.46
Loss(-)/Surplus £-40,671.84 £-32,424.82
CLOSING BALANCE C/FWD £216,587.80 £257,259.64

Communicare in Southampton

Notes on the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31st March 2024

1. Accounting Policies

Basis of accounting

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (effective April 2008), the Statement of Recommended Practice “Accounting and Reporting by Charities” (2005) and the provisions applicable for companies subject to the small companies’ regime.

Fixed assets

Office accommodation was provided through a licence to occupy at 6, Northlands Road, SO15 2LF, from July 2023 for agreed rental. Tangible fixed assets are of low value and are written off in the year of purchase.

Incoming resources

Incoming resources are recognised as income in the year in which they are received.

Resources expended

Resources expended are recognised in the period in which they are incurred. Resources expended include, where appropriate, VAT which is not recoverable.

2. Directors/Trustees Remuneration and Expenses

No remuneration was paid to any director/trustee nor were any expenses reimbursed.

3. Taxation

The Charitable Company is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

4. General Fund

Communicare in Southampton is a Charitable Company with no share capital that is limited by guarantee. Movements on the general fund in the period to 31 March 2024 were as follows:

Gain/loss on ordinary activities for
theperiod		 £-40,671.84
Balance at start of theyear £257,259.64
Balance at the end of theyear £216,587.80

5. Financial commitments

The Company has not entered into any financial commitments

6. Control - Throughout the year the Charity was controlled ultimately by its members.

Communicare in Southampton

~~ee~~ Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Communicare in Southampton.

I report on the accounts of Communicare in Southampton, set out on pages 12-, for the year ended 31 March 2024.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The trustees (who are also the directors of the company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The Trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 43(2) of the Charities Act 1993 (the 1993 Act) and that an independent examination is needed. I am qualified to undertake this examination as I am a Chartered Certified Accountant and have an independent interest in the charity.

Having satisfied myself that the charity is not subject to audit under company law and is eligible for independent examination, it is my responsibility to:

Basis of independent examiner’s report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair view’ and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below:

Independent examiner’s statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

16[th] September 2024

Simon Rudd

Coastal Accountants Ltd, Office 2, Unit 3 Mitchell Point, Ensign Way, Hamble SO31 4RF

Communicare in Southampton