ME STIRT Southern Oxfordshire 35 Years Annual Report 2023124 Supporting families in Oxfordshire since 1989 www.homestart-southernoxfordshire.org.uk About us We work with families who are goingthrough challenging times, and who have a child/children aged five years or under. We recruit and train volunteers to spend time with families, aiming to increase their confidence and independence by: Offering friendship? support, and practical assistance, with a flexible approach to take account of different needs Developing a trusting relationship with the family> to establish an understanding of their circumstances Reassuring parents that difficulties in bringing up children are not unusual, and encouraging enjoyment in family life Encouraging parents, strengths, emotional wellbeing and parenting skills, for the ultimate benefit of their children Encouraging families to widen their network of relationships and to effectively use the support and services within the local community. We also support families through a paid worker, and two groups, described later in this report. We are linked with Home-start UK, a national organisation which sets standards for the way we work, but we are an independent registered charity and responsible for our own fundraising. Ouryear at a glance 80 170 317 families supported by our Home-visiting Volunteers families supported in total children supported in total 70 20 264 families supported byourgroups families supported by Family Support Worker children under 5 years supported 53 children over 5 years supported Where our 126 referrals came from Self Referral - 19 Perinatal Mental Health- 9 Family Support Services - 7 Social Services- 8 Maternity- 5 Community Orgs- 3 Other Home-Starts- 2 Other Health- I HousingAssessment Team- I Mental Health Services- I Early LearninglChildcare- I Education- 15 Health Visitor- 54 The Area We Cover Referrals received by district council ward ?4. P￿iE Shrlwenharn Families supported by district council ward Our Impact Our outcomes show that of the families we supported with a home- visiting volunteer over the last year: had improved outcomes for being involved in their children's learningand development felt less isolated felt better able to cope with parenting in the earliest years had improved mental wellbeing In their words '1 received excellent support at a time when I felt very let down by mental health seniices. My volunteer, Debbie, has been incredibly helpful. With no family in the area, and not being able to drive, I felt very isolated. Her weekly visit helped me to do our weekly shop, allowed me to attend therapy and gave me someone to talk to. I couldn't have got to where l am now without this support in place" "Thankyou so much for all ofthe support Home-start and Suzanne has given mel It has been greatly appreciated and a real lifeline for us as a family" Chair's Report l am extremely pleased to present our 35th Annual Report, as it gives us the opportunityto share with you an overview ofthe work of Home-start Southern Oxfordshire. This year we celebrate 35 years ofsupporting families, an achievementwe are incredibly proud of. As a longstanding Home-start Southern Oxfordshire trustee, I have experienced many highs and lows over the years. l am pleased to say that after a difficult start to the 2023-24 year, we are ending it in a much better place. The Treasurer's report will show this in more detail. We owe a huge thank you to Linda and a reduced staffteam forthe way they came together, to continue to seamlessly work forthe benefit of our supported families. Thank you to Faye, returning from maternity leave, for almost immediately sourcing much needed funding to sustain our serdice, and thankfully continuing to work tirelessly for this aim. We continue to work closely with the other two Oxfordshire Home-starts: Oxford, and Banbury, Bicester and Chipping Norton. We share good practice and have had success coming together as a consortium, strengthening funding bids for countywide projects. My thanks to my colleagues on the trustee board for their continued support and guidance. They give their time, expertise and commitment to benefit the work of Home-start. A notable example is Rosemary Knagg, who this year retired from the board having faithfully served us since 1989, initially as an adviser, and later as a trustee. We were delighted to welcome Christine as a new trustee, bringing a wealth of Early Years and local authority experience, and at the same time starting as a home-visitingvolunteer. Myfinal thank you is to the amazing volunteers who bring a wealth of experience, compassion and caring to the families they support. They can and do make a difference, thank youl Doreen McNulty Chair of Trustees Treasurer's Report The scheme had an overall surplus of £26,001.29 in the year to 31st March 2024. This went a great way towards recouping the previous year's deficit of £29,702.78. We are pleased to recognise the fantastic support from our largest donors: The Henry Smith Charity of £47,200; the Tambour Foundation of £25,000; the Poor of Didcot Charity of £22,994.74; the Veterans, Foundation of £22,500. We have received funding from many town and parish councils, as well as grant-giving trusts, organisations and individuals. We thank them all. Expenditure was within budget, as a result of tight controls, despite staff pay awards being above budgeted levels for a second year. Reserves Policy Our reserves policy is to hold sufficient reserves to cover potential liabilities if the scheme was to close, plus anticipated funding requirements for the forthcoming year, plus a general reserve of no more than 12 months ofannual income. We had reserves at the financial year end totalling £135,661.09. This is represented by two reserves: a designated reserve of £41,000- to cover a Pension Trust liability and potential liabilities from redundancy payments and closing down costs. a free reserve of £94,661.09, which represents about 6 months of the budgeted expenditure for 2024/25. Treasurer's Report Once again, we offer our sincere thanks to all the organisations, individuals and trusts that have supported us throughout the year, together with all our dedicated staff and volunteers. In particular, ourthanks must go to Faye, whose fundraising endeavours have been fundamental in enabling us to receive the income in 2023/24. Ongoing funding will be an increasing challenge, as we try to maintain the demands on our services whilst supporting our families. 0%￿ Because chlldhood can'twart oo 01135 Sl1151 Colin Campbell Treasurer Manager's Report The yearApril 2023 to March 2024 has been a year ofconsolidation. We started this period of time with some financial pressures and a lack of funding, which placed the scheme understress. It has been a time to fasten our belts and work hard to maintain the service we offer to families. We trained 9 new volunteers during this period and we would like to thank them forcomingforward, completingthe training and starting theirjourney of supporting families in their time of need. Unfortunately, during this period, we also lost 11 volunteers who had to stop working with us. The main reasons fortheir retirements were supporting their own families with childcare, returning to work or increasing paid working hours and their own declining health. We would like to thank those volunteers for the time they were able to volunteer with us and forthe difference they made to families they supported. While we were struggling to obtain funding, especially multi year funding, the need for our seniice was ever-increasing. We received 126 referrals of which 54 had to be declined due to either the referral not fulfilling our criteria or to lack of capacity. 51 of the 126 referrals received were for families with increased needs, either in a Child Protection Plan (CP), Child in Need Plan (CIN) or Team Around the Family (TAF). This is an increase from 22/23 where we received 118 referrals, 47 had to be declined and 36 families were increased needs. Collaborative working with the two other schemes in Oxfordshire, Home- Start Oxford and Home-start Banbury, Bicester& Chipping Norton, has continued this year, especially around joint grant bids. We believe that being able to offer a unified service for all families in Oxfordshire gives us strength when applying for funding and also enables us to work closely and share practices and ideas. Manager's Report In July, we said goodbye to our Group Worker, Jacquie, who had decided to change career and pursue her love of gardening. We decided to look within, at the strengths the existing team had to offer. Gill, our Family Support Worker, has experience and training in running groups from her previous role in Children's Centres. She was able to incorporate running our Home- Start Parenting Group with her current role. We like to encourage and allow growth and personal development within ourteam and Kelly, ourAdministrator, had expressed a wish to work more closely with families. We were able to offer her advanced safeguarding, first aid and OXPIP training around attachment to enable her to feel confident in running ourweekly First Babies Group, which she has taken to with great enthusiasm and enjoyment. Thank you to Play2Give, Tesco Didcot and The Body Shop Didcot for donating gifts forthe children and families at Christmas and Easter eggs too. We held a Christmas thank you for ourvolunteers at Berro Lounge in Didcot. This wasvery well attended with 25 volunteers coming alongfor a hot drink and chat. Thankyou to Berro Lounge for contributing to the occasion with some lovely cakes. Our volunteers really are the backbone of Home-start Southern Oxfordshire and without them, we really would not be able to operate. We would like to thank them all, from our board of Trustees to our Home-visiting Volunteers and our Group Volunteers and everyone who has supported us throughout this year. A big thanks also to the staff team who have worked hard and pulled together to support the scheme throughout this difficult year. We are pleased to report that as we approached the end of this financial year, our budget was looking much healthier and l am already looking forward to writing a much more exciting and positive report for next year's AGM... watch this space! Linda Cheong Manager 10 Volunteer Support The Heart of Home-start Our trained home-visiting volunteer, B, is currently supporting a single mum of two. Mum has recently separated from her partner. This had been quite a toxic, stressful relationship and he had been suggesting he would be looking for custody of their newborn son. The baby was born prematurely after a difficult pregnancy, which left mum feelingvery overwhelmed and her recovery has been tricky. Baby has had frequent visits to hospital, including a week-long stay, and struggles to gain and maintain weight. With Mum's recent return to work, albeit from home initially, Mum's ability to cope has been further impaired by the stress of this coupled with sleep deprivation and trying to maintain a functioning family home for both her children and herself. Although there are other professionals involved in the support ofthe family, ourvolunteer, B, has greatly aided Mum in working towards getting her family to their new normal. B visits weekly and has played with the baby while Mum attends online meetings, takes a shower or carries out chores. Mum doesn't drive and is reliant on limited public transport. She has no family or friends in the area so can feel quite isolated. B has accompanied Mum and babyto GP appointments and has also driven her to interviews for alternative jobs. B is helpingto empower Mum and she is slowly but surely beginning to feel better about her future and how she will manage going forward. They have struck up a lovely, trusting friendship and Mum always remarks how very grateful she is for this. Our volunteers are the heart of Home-start Southern Oxfordshire and we couldn't do what we do without them! 11 Home-start Groups We've worked with 70 families at our two parent and child support groups, First Babies Group and Home-start Parenting Group, this year. First Babies Group Our Tuesday mornings at Ladygrove Community Centre, Didcot, continued to support first-time parents. The group, which is funded by The Didcot Powerhouse Fund and Didcot Town Council, is a welcoming space where parents and babies can socialise and access support and advice from our experienced staff and volunteers. T￿•D￿lI Fuelling Better F￿tureS 54 % of parents reported feeling less isolated 71 % of parents felt more prepared in meeting their child's social and development needs 100 % of parents felt their child enjoyed the group The group continues to be supported by our two fantastic volunteers, Helen and Gill. Our Group Worker, Jacquie, left in July 2023 to pursue her love for gardening and since then the group has been run by Kelly, who joined Home-start Southern Oxfordshire in 2021. "The group has been a weekly haven where I've been able to chat with other parents, finding reassurance that we're all making this up as we go along; and that babies are rarely as'text book, as I was led to expect. I've made great friends through the group who I now meet up with outside the weekly sessions. The Home-start staff and volunteers who run the group are friendly and welcoming, always doing small things to make our visits easier, whether this is holding the baby while I put my bike away, giving me a second cup of tea or helping carry my tea to me as I have poor mobility. The volunteers also have a wonderful calming presence and help gently break the ice which prevents the clique atmosphere I've found in other groups." 12 Home-start Groups Home-start Parenting Group Our Home-start Parenting Group is held in a private room at Didcot Library and has been mostly funded by the Pye Charitable Settlement this year. This group is a small, friendly group with attendees referred to us from Health Visitors and Social Care. There has also been a number of self-referrals. As it is a small group, it gives ample opportunity to chat and provide any additional support needed. py[J ,Lable settlement Since July 2023, this group has been run by our Family Support Worker, Gill. Gill is highly skilled and has been able to bring lots of new support to the group. They have looked at strategies using the Family Links Nurturing Programme, covering areas such as consistency, self-esteem and personal power. The group has also learned about batch cooking, menu planning and meal preparation to make meals more affordable. We provide a good range of age appropriate toys and crafts activities for the children. The activities and play resources provide good child stimulation and help the children and parents to socialise. This year our Group Volunteer, Dina, left to pursue further opportunities and we wish herwell. We welcomed Amanda as our new group volunteer. Amanda, as a parent previously supported bythe group, has been able to bring lots of lived experience to the role and has been a great help. 13 Family SupportlForces Liaison In Spring 2023 our military family support was put under threat of closure after being unsuccessful in our bid for further funding from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund. Fortunately, The Veterans, Foundation and The Tambour Foundation came to our rescue and funded my role fora further year. This meant that my work, delivering one-to-one support to families in theirown homes, could continue. VETERANS. FOUNDATION THE TAMBOUR FOUNDATION •ys• I've been able to offer rapid response support, both long and shortterm, to predominantly military personnel and their families. This includes families living on or off the bases of l Dalton Barracks (Abingdon), Vauxhall Barracks (Didcot), RAF Benson and the Defence Academy of the UK (Shrivenham). Support has mostly been around mental health, parenting, isolation and building self-esteem. The majority of my support has revolved around the use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and the Family Links Nurturing Programme. I can work with any memberofthe family. A large percentage of my work is with the adults of the family, which is very understandable, as when a parent/carer is experiencing difficulties this has a direct effect on the whole family. c*rt*w•lt I've attended Family Days, Meet & Greets to welcome new families to base, community meetings and coffee mornings, building relationships with a network of agencies and professionals. Gill was outstanding and supported me forthe last year! I honestly could not have done it without her. She helped me and my little boy immensely and I cannot thank herenough! The support we received was amazing! Thank you Gill we will forever be grateful! I wouldn't have made it without you. >> Gill Jones Family Supportworker 14 Highlights Thankyou to the wonderful team at Digipress in Didcot who gave their services for free and produced 2 pop-up bannerstands and 2 PVC banners for us to use at events. A special thank you to our amazing volunteer, Matt, who organised this for us! We thank Play2Give for donating gifts for the families we were supporting at Christmas and Easter eggs at Easter time too! Thank you to our local Tesco Superstore and Body Shop for its gift donations too! The Didcot Powerhouse Fund funded our First Babies Group for anotheryearl The Didcot Powerhouse Fund tackles inequality and deprivation in Greater Didcot and the surrounding villages and we appreciate its continued supportfor our Group. Grant The Dldcot Fund Ocipiell A huge thankyou to all the businesses and organisations, such as SOHA, Oxfordshire 500, Magnox and Annington Ltd fortheir donations, as well as to all our supporters who made one-off and direct debit donations to us throughout the year! 15 11 Funders Parish Councils: Crowmarsh, Steventon, East Hagbourne, Kidmore End, Lewknor, Sutton Courtenay, Radley, Chilton, Tetsworth, Ewelme, Hinton Waldrist, Chalgrove, Cholsey. South Oxfordshire District Council: Revenue Grant. Oxfordshire County Council: Councillor Priority Fund. Town Councils: Didcot, Henley-on-Thames, Abingdon-on-Thames. Charitable Trusts Theveterans, Foundation, The Tambour Foundation, BBC Children in Need, The Henry Smith Charity, Stanton Ballard Charitable Trust, Didcot Powerhouse Fund, Faringdon United Charity, Localgiving Magic Little Grants, Wallingford Bridge Estates Charity, Doris Field Charitable Trust, The Albert Hunt Trust, Pye Charitable Settlement, PF Charitable Trust, Turners Court Youth Trust, The Alchemy Foundation, The Clarke Family Trust, The Wantage Coronation Fund, Henley-on-Thames Bridge Charity, Christopher Laing Foundation, Oxfordshire Community Foundation, Blakemore Foundation, Poor of Didcot Charity. Business Donors Magnox Ltd, Annington Ltd, Amazonsmile. Groups and Individuals SOHA, Oxfordshire 500, Wallingford and District Rotary Club, Aston Tirrold United Reformed Church, Abingdon Baptist Church, Didcot Baptist Church, Dorchester Abbey, Kickstart Fund, Players of the White Horse Community Lottery, Players ofthe SODC Charitable Lottery, HenleyTable Tennis Club, Didcot Townswomen's Guild, Donations in memory of Sarah Morgan, Donations through easyfundraising. Thank you to all families, volunteers past and present and supporters who donate their expenses, make donations in lieu of birthday gifts, fundraise andlor make regular donations to the scheme, often boosted by Gift Aid. 16 Trustees and Staff April 2023-March 2024 Trustees: Doreen McNulty Colin Campbell Gill Bodey Rosemary Knagg (until June 2023) Barbara Guast Helen Conway Tanya Skelton (until October 2023) Caroline Couldrick Abi Reynolds Christine Grandison (co-opted March 2024) Chair Honorary Treasurer Vice Chair Staff: Linda Cheong Lydia Davison Anita Davidson Gill Jones Jacquie Boshell Faye Golding-King Kelly Summers Manager Organiser Organiser Family Support Worker Group Worker (until July 2023) Development Manager Administrator and Group Worker Independent Examiner: Sue Scane, CIPFA Home-start Safeguarding Home-start Southern Oxfordshire is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults, and expects all trustees, staff, volunteers and members to share this commitment. Our policies on safeguarding children and adults are available on our website. 17 Quality Assurance We are proud to be part of the Home-start network. As well as giving us wider publicity and access to specialist support, our membership ensures we are assessed under the Home-start Quality Assurance Standard. This encompasses ten standard areas: Family Support, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Operating a Home- Start, Quality & Impact, Protecting Families, Money & Funding, Staff & Volunteers, Governance & Leadership, Brand, Communication & Digital, and Partnership & Influence. At our last Quality Assurance Review in 2018 we were categorised as 'Demonstrating High Quality,, having met 100 % ofthe performance indicators. Normally, we would by now have received a further review, but the pandemic has led to delays in Home-start UK'S review programme. We are now starting to submit self-assessments of our practice in the standard areas, for monitoring by Home-start UK. Public Benefit Statement The Trustees have a duty to report on the scheme's public benefit. They have taken into account the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit in planning the year's activities. This report demonstrates how Home-start Southern Oxfordshire fulfils its charitable objectives. Membership Membership of Home-start The trustees have assessed the Southern Oxfordshire is open to major risks to which Home-start any person interested in Southern Oxfordshire is exposed, in furthering the objectives quoted particular those relating to finances above, and approved by the and operations, and believe that trustees. Members are entitled to arrangements are in place to vote at theAGM and othergeneral mitigate those risks. meetings. Application forms are available on request. Risk Management 18 ME STIRT Home-start Southern Oxfordshire 197 Broadway Didcot OXII 8RU 01235 511152 admin@homestartso.org HomeStartSouthernOxfordshire X @HomeStart_S_Ox Southern Oxfordshire www.homestart-southernoxfordshire.org.uk Home-start Southern Oxfordshire is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales Number: 05443274 Registered Charity Number: 1113941 >iJ O Q) ¢yJ N) N) N) Oa) thCQCOQ)N) N) on o(nooN)throoN) ) ts) o)a ¢5) (o ry) C￿)￿ ￿￿j0(00&>￿O 00000 00￿00 00000 800*&00 ) ts) QJ C4) )00￿￿0 JO L 4%OOOi>J oooots) o) J oo 888 e)ts)00 inN)00 Jcooo K(Q (D J (D >iJ O Q) ¢yJ N) N) N) Oa) thCQCOQ)N) N) on o(nooN)throoN) ) ts) o)a ¢5) (o ry) C￿)￿ ￿￿j0(00&>￿O 00000 00￿00 00000 800*&00 ) ts) QJ C4) )00￿￿0 JO L 4%OOOi>J oooots) o) J oo 888 e)ts)00 inN)00 Jcooo K(Q (D J (D