Office Suite 3 Locking Road Business Park 110 Locking Road Weston-super-Mare BS23 3HF
07771 179007 info@home-startnorthsomerset.org.uk www.home-startnorthsomerset.org.uk
Annual Report 2020/2021
This year Home-Start North Somerset has supported 61 families with 90 children.
We have recruited and trained 11 new volunteers bringing the total to 38 active volunteers.
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Board of Trustees
Dali Sidebottom Chair of Trustees Christopher Bird Treasurer Jane Wells Trustee, Vice-Chair Nicky Day Trustee Sheila French Trustee Rebecca Cresswell Trustee Jade Terry Trustee Jane Sleigh Volunteer Representative
Staff Team
Julie Parsons Sally Downey Karen Whitaker Helen Howes
Senior Organiser Co ordinator Co ordinator Administrator
Volunteers
Alex Christine Jane S Nicola Andrew W Debra Janet Patricia Andrew R Diane Jennie Patsy Annie Eleanor Julianne Petra Ann Emma Kate Sarah L Anne-Marie Fran Karen Sue O Barbara Gill Kaye Sue R Bernie Helen Lindsay Val Belinda Izzy Marian Carol Jackie Mo
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Home-Start North Somerset
Home-Start North Somerset is a voluntary organisation that supports families who are experiencing difficulties and have at least one child under the age of five. We recruit and train volunteers who support families within their own home offering non-judgemental, confidential support, friendship and practical assistance specifically tailored to the family’s needs.
Mission Statement
Our vision is to be the leading independent family support charity in North Somerset. We aim to be a partner of choice for families and organisations, known for our reliable, responsive and respected quality service. Through families and volunteers working together, we aim to improve outcomes for all.
Respectful
We welcome and respect each other’s views and are confidential in the way we work together and with others.
Supportive
We believe in supporting and developing everyone involved in our charity.
Inclusive
We value collaboration with partners and aim to work in an open and nonjudgemental way, listening to feedback from those we work with.
Independent
We are true to our vision and make pro-active decisions that are in the best interest of our charity.
Ambitious
We strive for success and are enthusiastic to develop and sustain an excellent service.
Responsible
We are clear on our roles and take all responsibilities seriously making sure we question and challenge in order to make carefully considered decisions at an appropriate level.
Trustworthy
We are honest and can be trusted to meet our commitments ethically and responsibly.
Effective
We aim to work effectively and efficiently making careful use of all our resources.
Home-Start North Somerset
We are a local charity and have been working exclusively in North Somerset for 16 years to provide practical and emotional support to families with young children who are experiencing difficulties. We are registered with the Charity Commission and quality assured by Home-Start UK.
We aim to :-
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support families throughout the whole of North Somerset, offering support, friendship and practical assistance
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visit families in their own homes, where the dignity and identity of each individual can be respected and protected
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reassure parents that difficulties in bringing up children are not unusual and encouraging enjoyment in family life
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develop a relationship with the family in which time can be shared and understanding can be developed; the approach is flexible to take account of different needs
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encourage the parents’ strengths and emotional well-being for the ultimate benefit of their own children
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encourage families to widen their network of relationships and to use effectively the support and services available within the community.
We offer free, confidential support, friendship and practical help to parents, with at least one child under 5 in North Somerset. Families are welcome to approach us themselves or with their consent may be referred by a professional such as a health visitor who is known to them.
We recruit and train home-visiting volunteers, who all have parenting experience and match them carefully with a family who has requested or been referred for support. Each volunteer then regularly visits a family in their own home, offering emotional and practical support through difficult times for as long as it is needed. This friendly parent-to-parent support is a simple yet effective way of enabling families to get back on track and start to really enjoy family life again as this case study demonstrates
Home-Start Family Quotes
“Despite the lockdown I do feel less isolated now. A weekly group is something to look forward to. You have people to talk to”.
(Mums in Mind Group)
Home-Start worked 'as I was really down for a long time. My volunteer's support helped me to recover and put myself all together
- I gained back my self-esteem
- I started to be more relaxed and understood it's ok not to feel ok and to seek help'
(Home-Visiting Support)
“The group gave me more confidence to speak about my worries because it allowed me to know that other people are going through
that and it was quite normal”.
(Mums in Mind Group)
‘I felt awful and felt so much better after a chat. It is good to have a non-judgemental person to talk to. I really appreciate it, it’s really helping’ (Home-Visiting Support)
“I feel more confident now in my abilities to be a mother because I’ve come to understand myself better and just enjoy it a bit more. The group has given me the chance to take stock and reflect on that”.
(Mums in Mind Group)
'She helped me find ways to include my younger child with activities when I was doing home learning with my son'. (Home-Visiting Support)
Home-Start Family Quotes
'My volunteer has been great and it is good to be able to talk to someone who has been in the same position, they helped with planning and
financial side of things. Having Home-Start made everything easier. '
(Home-Visiting Support)
“Having other mums come in to talk who are still going after hard times was comforting. I know things can move on”. (Mums in Mind Group)
'Home-Start have been a lifesaver'.
(Home-Visiting Support)
“The group of ladies were all very open and honest, noone judged and that was something that really helped because each week I would look forward to talking about my difficulties without feeling like I should feel guilty or ashamed”. (Mums in Mind Group)
My volunteer gave me confidence when I was very anxious being a new mum for the first time. I had my baby during lockdown and my volunteer helped me normalise my worries. (Home-Visiting Support)
My volunteer helped me look back on how far I had come and asked me
if I could do it on my own. I realised, I could and her support helped me so much to get where I am now, in a much better place and coping.
(Home-Visiting Support)
Chair’s Report April 2020 - March 2021
A Year of Challenge and Change
We started April 2020 in the full throes of the Covid Pandemic and corresponding lockdown. In line with government advice our staff were working from home and volunteers supported families by telephone. We were fortunate to be awarded
£2000 by Quartet for the purchase of laptops to enable the staff to function efficiently from their individual bases supported by a new ‘Home- working Policy. One member of staff needed to be put on furlough for a short period due to childcare responsibilities.
In common with many other services we conducted all our communications virtually with meetings and contacts with families and volunteers taking place via telephone or video link. Staff successfully implemented the use of Microsoft Teams which improved communications and efficiency. The shift to a paperless regime was accelerated along with the development of a new on-line database – The Family Tracker which enabled us to monitor progress of each family and generate reports for the Board and future funders.
Like many other Home-Starts and local services we experienced a down-turn in referrals during the course of the year as health visitors who are our main referrers were deployed to other Covid-related tasks instead of visiting families.
We welcomed two new trustees onto the Board. Becky Cresswell and Jade Terry who between them brought an excellent range of skills and expertise in marketing and publicity. They helped us develop a forward-looking marketing and fundraising strategy against the backdrop of postponed and cancelled events. Despite this we received funding from a number of town councils (Clevedon, Weston-Super-Mare and Portishead) The strategy also made the case for a marketing and fundraising officer which was approved by the Board towards the end of the year.
Staff ended up needing to work from home for much longer than first anticipated so the Board made the decision to move to a smaller and less expensive office in the same building with the expectation there would be a gradual return to face-toface meetings.
Home-Start North Somerset will be the Charity of the Year for Fagus Portishead Waitrose. We should also benefit from Home-Start UK selection as Charity of the Year for John Lewis/Waitrose Partnership.
While working on a substantial bid to the Big Lottery we were informed they were focusing on smaller bids to support charities continue their services during the Covid lockdown. We were successful in receiving £38,571 as part of that package.
We ran 2 volunteer preparation courses online for 11 participants in December 2020 and March 2021. Our volunteer representative organised a virtual meeting for home-visiting volunteers who appreciated the opportunity to catch up with each other and share ideas for supporting families in different ways.
In spite of all the challenges and changes to service provision required Home-Start North Somerset Staff and volunteers have continued to provide valued support through our volunteers and Mums in Mind group to a total of 61 families with 90
children under 5 including 14 mothers who attended the Mums in Mind project across North Somerset throughout the year. Group family numbers were down compared to previous years as lockdown began between groups. The group coordinator changed tack to work on improving the Home-Start website including adding a lockdown resources webpage and redesigned processes and content to run the group online for the second half of the year.
Our families continue to benefit from strong working partnerships with organisations in North Somerset including Children’s Centres, Voluntary Action North Somerset and other community groups.
We are also very grateful once again to Clair Morris and her team for their kind and generous donations of Christmas presents for all the children and families we support.
This has been a difficult year for our families, volunteers, trustees and especially the staff who have had to cope with both personal and professional demands on their time and energy. They have all risen to the task splendidly and quickly adapted to new ways of working and communicating which will serve to strengthen our service offer in the future.
A heartfelt thanks to you all.
Dali Sidebottom
Chair
Treasurers Report
April 2020 to March 2021
Despite the pandemic, I am very pleased to say the finances remain in a healthy state, despite all the uncertainties during the year.
It is pleasing that the work done by Home-Start North Somerset is valued by our funders who have shown their faith by extending our existing funding.
We continue to benefit from continued support from North Somerset Council, our local NHS Commissioning Group (CCG) the Henry Smith charity, Children in Need, Garfield Weston Foundation, Quartet Community Foundation and a number of local donors, who recognise the valuable contribution we make to the local offer to families.
We enjoyed a fruitful partnership with the Co-operative Store in Weston and Worle who shared their charitable donations with us and had great support from John Lewis and Waitrose .
Of particular note is the support we received from the National Lottery, who went to considerable lengths to understand the situation of the charity and provided significant additional funding.
Due to the pandemic, we have been largely unable to do most of our traditional local fundraising, which was a shame. However, it is hoped to resume activities in 2021/2022.
On a practical note, the remote banking, cloud based computing and record keeping worked extremely well during the lockdowns, which was very pleasing.
I look forward to another successful year where our finances enable us to to help even more families
Chris Bird Hon. Treasurer
Home – Start North Somerset
Registered Number: 05555050
Micro – Entity Balance Sheet as at 31[st ] March 2021
| Fixed Assets Current Assets Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year Net (Liabilities)/Assets Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year Provisions for Liabilities Accruals and deferred income Total Net Assets Reserves Average number of Employees |
2021 - 48,037 (1,460) 46,577 0 0 0 46,577 46,577 4 |
2020 - 57,780 (1,686) 56,094 0 0 0 56,094 56,094 4 |
|---|---|---|
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For the financial year ending 31[st ] March 2021 the company was entitled to exemption under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
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No members have required the company to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.
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The directors acknowledge their responsibility for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and for the preparation of accounts.
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These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the micro-entity provisions and have been prepared in accordance with the provisions acceptable to companies subject to the small companies regime.
Approved by Board on 25[th] Aug 2021
Christopher Bird, Directo
…to all the volunteers, families, referrers, funders and friends of the scheme who supported us this year. We look forward to working together in the coming year.
Office Suite 3, Locking Road Business Park 110 Locking Road Weston-super-Mare BS23 3HF
Tel: 07771 179007 - Email: info@home startnorthsomerset.org.uk - Website: www.home startnorthsomerset.org.uk
Registered Charity No: 1111549 Company Number: 5555050
Registered Number 05555050
Home- Start North Somerset Filleted Accounts for the Year Ended 31[st ] March 2021
Home – Start North Somerset
Registered Number: 05555050
Micro – Entity Balance Sheet as at 31[st ] March 2021
| Fixed Assets Current Assets Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year Net (Liabilities)/Assets Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year Provisions for Liabilities Accruals and deferred income Total Net Assets Reserves Average number of Employees |
2021 - 48,037 (1,460) 56,577 0 0 0 46,577 46,577 4 |
2020 - 57,780 (1,686) 56,094 0 0 0 56,094 56,094 4 |
|---|---|---|
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For the financial year ending 31[st ] March 2021 the company was entitled to exemption under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
-
No members have required the company to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.
-
The directors acknowledge their responsibility for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and for the preparation of accounts.
-
These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the micro-entity provisions and have been prepared in accordance with the provisions acceptable to companies subject to the small companies regime.
Approved by the board on
Christopher Bird, Director
Independent Examiners Report to the Trustees of HomeStart North Somerset
Respective responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner
The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the acc consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charit act) and that an
independent examination is needed.
It is my responsibility to:
examine the accounts under section 145 of the
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. Charities Act
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to follow the procedures laid down in the general
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. Direction
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given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)
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. (b) of the
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. Charities Act) and
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to state whether particular matters have come to my
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. attention
Basis of independent examiners statement
Commission. An
comparison of the
- disclosures
such matters. The
consequently
limited to those
matters set out in the statement below,
Independent Examiners
Statement
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
requirements
to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of
the Charities Act
with the with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act have not been met; or 2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to ena understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed: M J Bowles Date: 25th July 2021