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2020-12-31-accounts

Every pregnancy has a story. Whatever your story, you have choices.

Choices Islington

Annual Report and Financial Statements 31 December 2020

A company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales number 6517231

Registered charity number 11242

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

Report of the trustees

Introducing Choices Islington

Our vision

For no-one in London to face a pregnancy crisis alone.

Our mission

To provide the gold standard of support for anyone facing a pregnancy crisis.

Our ethos

As a Christian organisation, we believe that all people deserve to be treated with care, compassion and respect, regardless of their faith, race, income, sexual orientation or employment status. We are not a campaigning organisation, and we do not have a political agenda.

We recognise that abortion is a controversial issue that divides people in a polarising debate. We choose instead to unite people by meeting our clients at their point of need, and never passing judgment. Our goal is to provide accurate information, counselling and practical support so those in crisis can reach a healthy, well informed decision that is their own. We will safeguard our clients to ensure this decision is not influenced by coercion, manipulation, or misleading information.

All Choices staff and volunteers are appropriately trained and supervised to reflect our ethos. We’re committed to practice within all national legal frameworks and professional guidelines, including anti-discrimination and child protection legislation. As a faith-based organisation, Choices reserves the right to apply occupational requirements to key counselling and leadership roles, to preserve the Christian ethos of our organisation in line with the Equality Act 2010.

How we accomplish our mission

We offer clients facing the dilemma of a pregnancy crisis a compassionate, caring, non-directive one-to-one session with a trained counsellor who will help them to consider their situation, to understand their thoughts and feelings in a safe and non-judgemental environment, and access accurate information, so that they can be empowered to make informed and internally resolved choices in the present.

We provide time-limited counselling (up to six months) for those who are struggling following a decision to terminate a pregnancy or following a pregnancy loss. This service is low-cost, and all counsellors are qualified or completing their training (registered with an accredited provider). Choices is a member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). Counselling is offered in the community and to female offenders in two women’s prisons (as a free service). Female offenders are also offered counselling for issues surrounding child separation and child loss – abiding themes for women in prison.

We support mothers practically by offering:

The focus of these services is on building our clients’ resilience to handle adversity and face the future with hope following a pregnancy crisis – be that an abortion, child loss or separation, or when parenting in difficult circumstances.

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Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

Report of the trustees

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

As part of the picture to help avoid the dilemma of unplanned pregnancy: we train other organisations to run an artsbased relationships course that promotes self-respect and positive values around making healthy relationship decisions.

Legal and administrative information

Choices Islington (formerly Choices Confidential Pregnancy Advice)

Company/Charity name Choices Islington (formerly Choices Confidential Pregnancy Advice) Registered charity number 1124209 Registered company number 6517231 Registered office 390, Caledonian Road Islington London N1 1DN Email info@choicesislington.org Telephone 020 7700 4475 Website www.choicesislington.org Trustees/Directors Hannah Carter (Chair) Tamsin Merchant Charlotte Quarmby (Treasurer) Sarah Rose Feeney John Wyatt Ian Gambier Ann Wiltshire Elizabeth Dulley Company Secretary Sophie Guthrie-Kummer Bankers Charities Aid Foundation Bank National Westminster Bank plc Independent examiner Christopher Clarke

Our charitable aims

  1. To reduce distress for individuals and couples facing an unplanned pregnancy and facilitate informed decisionmaking in a non-directive and compassionate manner.

  2. To enable women and men troubled by abortion or other pregnancy loss concerns to address and start to resolve these issues through counselling.

  3. To enable female offenders troubled by abortion, pregnancy or other child loss/separation concerns to address and start to resolve these issues through counselling.

  4. To support vulnerable mothers, including through provision of practical and emotional help with parenting. 5. To empower young and disadvantaged people, including offenders, to make healthy lifestyle choices in relationships and regarding sexual health and thereby reduce unplanned pregnancy (and sexually transmitted infection rates) and build self-esteem.

Public benefit

We have referred to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aims and objectives and in planning our future activities. In particular, the trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives they have set.

Choices’ Theory of Change

The main goal of Choices is to improve the resilience of our clients to: cope with a pregnancy crisis, make their choices healthily, and to have confidence to face the future with hope.

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Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

Report of the trustees

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

We do this by equipping them practically and with skills to understand their thoughts and feelings, and to act congruently with their values.

We define a pregnancy crisis as including but not limited to: unplanned pregnancy, pregnancy loss, child separation, parenting under difficult circumstances.

Outputs and Outcomes

To reach our goal, and Choices’ charitable aims, we have three main outputs. We define these outputs as the programmes we run to meet our clients’ needs.

These are:

The Outcomes we aim to see all lead towards the main goal: to help our clients to build resilience and to face the future with hope.

Key outcomes that we want to see in our clients as they reach that goal and through the programmes we offer are:

Leading to:

Review of achievements in 2020

2020 was clearly a challenging year for everyone - and particularly challenging for the women and families we work with. Single parents have struggled through the pressures of lockdown, with many in insecure accommodation with a young baby or multiple children, waiting for delayed financial support. Unexpectedly pregnant women came to us unsure what to do, facing anxiety about the future, and often about current and new relationships which were feeling the strain under lockdown.

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Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

Report of the trustees

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

From March 2020, Choices was quick to move all the services that we could online: we notified statutory services (GPs, health visitors and family services etc) that we continued to offer unplanned and pregnancy crisis support on a one-off free basis to all who needed it via online platforms and phone; our ongoing counselling service for those experiencing trauma, anxiety and depression following a pregnancy loss moved online and our befriending service for pregnant and new mums was also a lifeline on the phone or online for vulnerable mums in the perinatal period. Over the past year we have also developed a pregnancy counselling service for those who are experiencing mild to moderate anxiety and depression as well as other at-risk factors during pregnancy.

The Choice 4 Change prison counselling project saw a mixed year with the prisons on high lockdown for much of the year and prisoners in their cells 23 hours out of 24. Nonetheless, we started a post release counselling programme for those women released from prison before their counselling with Choices was complete, or in some cases before it started. This service has real potential to expand, dependent on our resources available to respond to need.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, 2020 was a year of growth and development of Choices as the need for our services is evident.

In summary: over the course of 2020, Choices worked with 128 counselling clients in prison and in the community and held 70 one-off sessions with women – and often their partner - facing a pregnancy crisis. We delivered 174 ‘Boutique’ packs to parents in need of clothes and equipment as well as basics such as nappies and baby food; we ran three online parenting courses with groups of parents, and befriended at least 10 mums or mums-to-be across the year. Finally, we resourced and trained two partner organisations, working with vulnerable women and mums and with young people in secondary school, to run ‘I Am Project’ courses.

A summary of the work of each project follows:

Community Counselling

Our counselling service enables clients to address their painful issues of loss and find healthy ways of processing their experiences, with the goal of increasing their resilience and ability to face future challenges.

Unplanned Pregnancy/Pregnancy Crisis

We saw 46 clients for unplanned pregnancy/pregnancy crisis sessions and at least 5 came with a partner – 50 clients in total. The general trend we have observed over the past year has been that one session hasn’t been quite enough for a number of clients and while some have two, a few have three or four sessions. We ran 70 sessions in total - most of them lasting more than 1 clinical hour. Across the year, 18 clients made contact but did not attend for a session, for a number of different reasons (eg not feeling the need any more).

100% of clients said they felt welcome and at ease and did not feel judged by their counsellor in their sessions, giving the top mark (6/6) for this question.

Some feedback:

“Thank you very much - it's been a real pleasure talking to you and it's been so important. I just needed someone to talk to about this and I'm so glad my GP referred me.” (James Wigg Practice in Kentish Town, NW5)

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Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

Report of the trustees

“We felt this was the worst day of our lives and all of that has quickly melted away, you were very non-judgmental and helped us talk and think it through. It helped us so much that you are here.”

“I forgot that I'd emailed in for support and think I would have gone ahead with an abortion without thinking about it, but now I see that that would have been a mistake and I am glad I know what I think and feel. I'm very grateful for this conversation.”

Pregnancy Loss and Pregnancy Counselling

This low-cost service has been gathering strength over the past year and moved online during the first lockdown of the pandemic. Despite some challenges for some clients who felt unable to access counselling online due to the sensitive nature of the work, the move to online counselling has been successful. This is something we aim to continue with in the future through a hybrid approach combining in person and online support depending on what is most accessible for our clients. Across the year, we saw 21 clients for a total of 383 sessions. The majority of these were pregnancy loss (post abortion) clients. However, two clients came for pregnancy counselling – a new service we have started to develop, offering support for those who are pregnant but anxious or dealing with previous trauma which is being triggered by the pregnancy.

Over the courses of the year, we continue to offer one-off sessions for those who are interested in counselling and who attend an assessment but do not go on to access on-going counselling. For some, one session is enough. However, we are aware that for many, this is a sensitive subject and one which they need to feel ready to work on. Some clients return a year or two later. As a result, we saw 11 clients for an initial appointment which did not lead to them continuing with counselling this year. We also received enquiries from a further 20 clients who did not proceed to having an initial appointment. Again, the sensitive nature of the counselling often means that clients can take some time before they are ready to proceed.

Evaluations

Counselling is having a significantly positive impact: using NHS approved psychometrics – GAD7 and PHQ9 scales for Anxiety and Depression respectively – we saw that from the start of counselling to the end, our clients’ anxiety reduced by 51% (an average of 4.93 points per person) and depression reduced by 47.6% (an average of 4.875 points per person). Clients said they appreciated the space to talk about their experience and felt supported in their grief by their counsellors. They were able face their fears, better understand their emotions, and to have a sense of acceptance, compassion, and forgiveness towards themselves. The benefits they experienced included an increased sense of resilience and hope for the future.

Some feedback:

"The counsellor has been absolutely amazing in helping me navigate a tumultuous time. Helping me to understand my own emotions and clarify reasons for my responses. A gentle and down to earth approach allowed me to open more and rebuild my confidence."

"Having the emotional tools to face challenges gave me the understanding of my feelings and realisation that I could search for and regain my happiness. Stepping away from relying on others' opinions and validations."

"This has been an incredible experience. I'm surprised how far I've come on this journey; I will be eternally grateful to my counsellor and the service that has been provided. Thank you."

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Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

Report of the trustees

"I feel so happy I found this charity. I can´t describe how grateful I am for the service provided. I can say: it saved my life. It was everything to me."

"I am so grateful for the counselling sessions and especially my counsellor who has been fantastic she has supported me and individualised the sessions to benefit me."

Choice for Change Prison Counselling

Choice for Change (C4C) is a counselling project for female offenders facing pregnancy loss and child bereavement/child separation issues. The project is hosted by the Mental Health Teams at HMPs Bronzefield and Downview and holds a Service Level Agreement with CNWL NHS Foundation Trust to provide its services. 2020 is C4C’s fourth year at HMPs Downview and Bronzefield and was a challenging one as Covid restrictions prevented all therapies from taking place between March and August. From late summer, curtailed services recommenced and returned in full strength by December. As a result we saw far fewer clients this year, but we did take the opportunity to introduce a new innovation: post release remote counselling (PRRC), which enabled us to continue support the women we had been seeing before lockdown who were now released. Towards the end of the year, we were offered funding to participate in a pilot project providing perinatal support to women across these two prisons including recruiting for a new counselling post in HMP Send.

In summary, the work was almost halved in quantity due to the pandemic but the women we were able to work with made their usual substantial gains as seen in the outcomes measures below. We had the following referral numbers: 91 at Bronzefield, 40 at Downview and 30 post release. In total we worked with 107 women – 47 at Bronzefield, 30 at Downview and 11 post-release; totalling more than 430 sessions.

Evaluations

As with our community counselling service, we use GAD7 and PHQ9 psychometric scales to score and monitor anxiety and depression levels in clients from the beginning to the end of a counselling intervention. Results are positive: Before counselling, 71 per cent had severe anxiety, dropping to only 17 per cent after, while 62 per cent had moderately severe and severe depression before counselling - a figure which dropped to only 21 per cent after.

Client feedback showed how helpful the service was and many indicated that they would have liked to have more sessions. The importance of having somewhere safe to share feelings, to process losses and to be heard was referenced by many, as was the experience of a kind and compassionate counsellor who enabled them to deal with feelings of shame and accept responsibility.

Some feedback:

“I have learnt to forgive myself. Where I have gone wrong and the impact of past trauma on me leading to me being where I am now resulting in my baby being adopted. I have learnt about the grief I feel and acknowledging my feelings and how best to deal with the pain.”

“I surprised myself at the way I've dealt with my ex - no bitterness/vengeful thoughts but been honest about the hurt. Would normally expect an explosion but learnt that the anger only hurts me and the kids.”

“(C4C) exceeded my expectations. My counsellor was amazing. I don't know where I would be without her. I can't thank her enough.”

“My whole thinking pattern has changed. I feel like a new person. I will live an abuse-free life when released and focus my pain into strength to help others who have gone through similar things. That's my goal, but first to make sure my family feel love and reassured i will do everything to prevent history repeating itself.”

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Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

Report of the trustees

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

Practical Parenting Support

This project exists to provide support both practically and emotionally to those who are parenting in adverse circumstances, such as on low income, in insecure housing, or single parenting. There is also a significant overlap with our counselling work, whereby a number of clients who have become pregnant unexpectedly and choose to continue with their pregnancy also receive support in the form of befriending or by using the Boutique baby clothes and equipment service. Notably, this year, while most services moved online (eg befriending via the phone), the Boutique continued in person for those who desperately needed practical support. Our community group had to close and we have taken the decision not to re-open as we are focusing our efforts where we can make the most impact.

We gave out a total of 174 Boutique packs – a higher number than last year. 134 of these packs had essential baby clothes and equipment and 40 focused on essential food items such as formula as well as nappies, many of which were generously donated through partner churches, including KXC (Kings Cross Church) at St Luke’s Kentish Town. We adapted the Boutique so that clients could collect pre-made packs at the door of Choices’ office, and when this wasn't possible, our volunteers delivered packs to families. We were very grateful to have six volunteers over the course of the year who spent many hours making packs for families. In addition, a further five or six volunteers from partner churches delivered Boutique packs to clients across London.

One of our clients said the following about the Boutique support:

"I’m very grateful for the support in providing for my son! Such a wonderful organisation."

During 2020, we supported 11 clients through our befriending project, with the help of six volunteer befrienders, working alongside our Parenting Support Manager who also undertakes a number of holding and support sessions with befriendees. We sometimes provide essential advocacy, liaison and signposting to and with other services as needed. Sessions this year were all online/on the phone following the initial lockdown in March. This service has been much sought after this year at a time when many parents are isolated. In June, we ran additional training online for new befrienders, which has helped us expand our befriending team so that we can support more families.

One of our clients said the following about her befriending experience:

“It has been really good to have someone to talk to about what is happening with me. I find it draining talking to my family and friends. With my befriender, I know that I have certain amount of time to offload things without being judged or asked questions."

This year, we adapted some of our monitoring and evaluative measures within befriending to incorporate some GAS (Goal Attainment Scaling) goals. We work collaboratively with the client to set goals for their befriending and at the end, we measure the extent to which they feel that they attained these goals. Thus far, all clients that have participated have attained their goals.

This year, we continued running our Circle of Security courses both in person and online. In total, we have run one course in person at the beginning of the year, and two online during lockdown. In total, we had 19 clients attend the courses and the feedback has shown how important this has been for clients in a difficult year.

One parent said:

“In a year in which I haven't been offered much support from other professionals, this course has provided much needed support and connection.”

Across all three courses, 84% of clients noted that they felt confident or very confident in their ability to cope with parenting challenges. Another parent said, "the course has made me more aware of my child's emotional needs.” During our three courses in 2020, 100% of participants felt that the course was facilitated well by rating it 6/6. Despite the change brought about by moving online, we are pleased that the feedback about the quality of the course has

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Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

Report of the trustees

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

been so positive. We intend to continue with online courses in the future as a number of parents with younger children, or who face difficulties travelling, found it more accessible.

Relationships Education

Using our expertise in mental health and wellbeing, we offer training to youth and community organizations interested in running our relationships education course. The ‘I Am Project’ is a nine-week course which, using the creative arts, explores healthy relationships with an emphasis on developing self-esteem. In 2020, we worked with youth charity XLP to deliver the course in a local secondary school and the course continues to be delivered by unplanned pregnancy centre Crossway with a group of women in HMP Bronzefield, one of the prisons we work in.

Late in 2020, we ran an online training with charity Restore Hope, training their community workers to run the course in their own setting with vulnerable mums. They all expressed high levels of satisfaction with the training and course materials, although the limitations of being trained on zoom did mean they felt less confident to start running the course themselves.

Feedback from this practitioner training course:

“Really useful and insightful. It has got me, and the rest of the team, very excited to run the course at Restore Hope hopefully soon!”

“The course material looks very interesting, and the activities will appeal to the participants whom we have in mind to invite.”

Summary of operations

The main work of 2020 was to respond as quickly and flexibly as we could to the unfolding crisis posed by the spread of Covid-19. With a focus on supporting staff and projects to work remotely so that we could reach those in need as effectively as possible, we successfully applied for a number of emergency response grants from Lloyds Bank Foundation, CAF Emergency Fund, London Response Fund and the Rank Foundation, among others. With these funds we were able to pay for core costs including salaries and rent as well as essential PPE and new mobile phone handsets/contracts and a zoom subscription.

To ensure compliance with GDPR while remote working, we also transferred all our online operations to the Microsoft Office Teams platform, where staff and volunteers can securely access client and other data. We updated our processes and SalesForce database to more flexibly respond to the needs online working posed and built on the work of the previous year to develop robust monitoring and evaluation systems. The Choices website was also given a refresh to ensure our services are as well represented as possible, and we have started developing a new online presence on Facebook and Instagram. In September, a new Fundraising and Operations Manager started work, overseeing much of the IT and online operations as well as building on our priority area of improving the sustainability of our fundraising. Our Christmas Appeal, which was run online for the third year running, raised around £17,000, going far beyond our £10,000 target.

Successful fundraising (specifically grant fundraising), paired with lower outgoings due to home-working, and making some use of the Government’s furlough scheme for prison counselling employees, have resulted in Choices finishing the year in a strong position. In addition, at the end of 2020, the Central and North West London (CNWL) NHS trust agreed to fund Choices to recruit a counsellor to extend the C4C prison counselling project into HMP Send focusing specifically on supporting women in the perinatal period. This £20,000 boost in our income is an exciting development, but for now is just for a one-year pilot project over the course of 2021.

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Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

Report of the trustees

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

Just before the initial lockdown in March 2020, the Trustees of Choices had agreed the strategic direction for the subsequent three years was to focus on growth. Further strategy work (identifying what ‘growth’ looks like for the charity) had to go on hold as an immediate crisis response took precedence. Thanks to a strong year of grant fundraising (including a three year grant from the Henry Smith Charity) and successful online community fundraising , we ended the year in a stronger position to plan again and to expand our services to meet the very evident needs not just in Islington but across north London and beyond. The aim is to secure funding from referrers, including statutory bodies, to fund more staff hours and to develop a bigger and more diverse team of volunteer counsellors and befrienders to be able to extend our services. A big question for the future is what physical space we need as more of our services go online indefinitely and hybrid home and office working becomes the norm.

Future Plans

Finance

Total incoming resources amounted to £188,621 for the year to 31 December 2020 (2019: £161,798). Total resources expended over the same period was £163,698 compared to £173,664 in 2019. The net position for the year amounted to a surplus of £24,923 compared with a deficit of £11,866 for the year to 31 December 2019). Net resources at the end of the year were £120,741 of which £106,836 is unrestricted and £13,905 is restricted. Further details are found later in this report, including details of the grants we gratefully received in the year.

Choices is reliant on gifts from grant-making trusts and foundations, as well as individual and major donors. We would like to thank the following donors for their support in 2020:

All Souls Church, Arundell Trust, 400 Caledonian Road, Borrows Charitable Trust, Charities Aid Foundation, Ernest Ingram Charitable Trust, Fitton Trust, Henry Smith Foundation, Islington Borough Council, Joan Ainslie Charitable Trust, KXC (Kings Cross Church), The Leathersellers Company, Lloyds Bank Foundation, Macquarie Group Foundation, The Mercers Trust, Mrs Smith and Mount Trust, National Lottery Community Fund, Norman Evershed Trust, Pat Newman Memorial trust, Pilgrim Trust, Postcode Community Trust, Shanly Foundation, Stella Symons Charitable Trust, St Mary’s Hornsey Rise, Woodward Trust.

The charity holds its reserves in a current bank account and in a CAF deposit account which generates interest on monies invested. It is the policy of the trustees to maintain three months’ expenditure in reserve. The financial management of the charity is supervised and monitored by the Finance Subcommittee of the Board and the trustees.

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Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

Report of the trustees

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

The people who make it happen

Trustees

The Board of Trustees is responsible for the strategic direction and policy of the charity. The Trustees, who are also Directors of the charitable company, meet every three months to review progress and performance, monitor the financial position, monitor risk and make strategic decisions. The Trustees/Directors who served during the year and up to the date of this report are listed on page 2. New trustees are appointed by existing trustees of whom there should be a minimum of three. Trustees are selected for their individual skills, knowledge and vision. New trustees are appropriately trained and inducted. One area for further development that arose during the year was the lack of ethnic and socio-economic diversity represented on our current board. As one Trustee has stepped down following maternity leave, a post has come up in 2021 which gives the Trustees scope to explore how to address this.

Team

Choices is run by the Executive Director and a four-person Management Team consisting of the project team leads. The Management Team and Executive Director are accountable to the Board. All staff are part-time.

Volunteers

Choices continues to benefit from talented and committed volunteering. A new member of staff (trained counsellor Operations and Fundraising Manager) was trained in running unplanned pregnancy sessions towards the end of the year, and four trainee counsellors were trained in pregnancy loss/post-abortion counselling and commenced work with clients in the low-cost service. Two new counselling volunteers were trained to work in the prison counselling projects. New volunteers were also recruited to help with Choices’ other projects, including one-to-one befriending of vulnerable mothers and help in the ‘Boutique’ baby clothes and equipment bank. Our overall volunteer base, including trustees, is around 30+. Choices’ goal is that volunteers should derive as much benefit from their work with the organisation as we derive from them. All of our counselling volunteers use Choices as a placement opportunity.

Governance

Expenses: no trustees claimed expenses this year.

Statement of trustees’ responsibilities

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the trustees’ report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

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 charity and of the surplus or deficit of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

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Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

Report of the trustees

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records 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 and the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP): “Accounting and Reporting by Charities” issued in 2012. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities in determining how amounts are presented within items in the statement of financial activities and balance sheet, the Trustees must have regard to the substance of the reported transaction or arrangement, in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles or practice.

Small company provisions and independent examination

For the year ending 31 December 2020, the company was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies. The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476. The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts. These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.

The trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year (under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011) and that an independent examination is needed. The trustees have appointed Christopher Clarke ACA as Independent Examiner for the year ended 31 December 2020

Approved by the Board and signed on its behalf by;

Sophie Guthrie-Kummer

Executive Director and Company Secretary

11 May, 2021

I report on the accounts of the company for the year ended 31 December 2019, which are set out on pages 12 to 20.

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 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

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:

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Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

Report of the trustees

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

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:

(1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:

– to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records, comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the Companies Act 2006 and with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities have not been met; or

(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Christopher Clarke, ACA

20 May, 2021

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Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

Report of the trustees

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

Statement of financial activities

(incorporating the income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31 December 2020

Unrestricted Restricted Total
Funds		 Total
Funds
Notes Funds Funds 2020 2019
£ £ £ £
Income and endowments
from:
Donations andlegacies 2a 105,973 77,270 183,242 156,236
Other fundraising activities 2b - - - 4,160
Incomefrom investments 2c 7 - 7 12
Income from charitable
activities		 2d 5,372 - 5,372 1,390
Total income and
endowments		 111,351 77,270 188,621 161,798
Expenditure on: 3
Expenditure on Raising

Funds		 11,024 - 11,024 12,729
Expenditure on Charitable
activities		 77,853 74,822 152,674 160,935
Total expenditure 88,877 74,822 163,699 173,664
Net
income/(expenditure) 22,474 2,448 24,922 (11,866)
Opening balances brought

forward		 84,362 11,457 95,819 107,685
Total funds carried
forward 106,836 13,905 120,741 95,819

All activities are continuing activities.

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses for the year and therefore no statement of total recognised gains and losses has been prepared. The notes on following pages form part of these accounts.

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Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

Report of the trustees

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

Balance Sheet

for the year ended 31 December 2020

Total
Unrestricted Restricted Funds Total
Notes Funds Funds 2020 Funds 2 2019
£ £ £ £
Fixed assets
Tangiblefixed assets 4 - - - -
- - - -
Current assets
Rent deposit 4,000 - 4,000 4 4,000
Accrued income and
prepayments 3,317 6,725 10,042 3,017
Debtors 5 4,305 - 4,305 5,894
Cashat bankandin hand 98,947 7,190 106,138 92,347
110,569 13,915 124,485 105,259
Liabilities
Creditors-amounts falling due in
1year 6 (3,734) (10) (3,744) (9,440)
Net current assets 106,835 13,905 120,741 95,819
Total net assets 106,836 13,905 120,741 95,819
Funds of the charity
Unrestricted 106,836 66,866
Restricted 7 13,905 40,819
120,741 107,685

The company is entitled to exemption from audit under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 for the year ended

31 December 2020 and the members/guarantors have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2020 in accordance with Section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.

The trustees/directors acknowledge their responsibility for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and for the preparation of accounts.

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.

Approved by the Board of Trustees on 11 May 2021 and signed on their behalf by:

Hannah Carter

Chair of Trustees

15

Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

Report of the trustees

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

Notes to the Financial Statements

for the year ended 31 December 2020

1. Accounting Principles

The principal accounting principles are summarised below and have been applied consistently throughout the year.

Basis of accounting

These accounts have been prepared on the basis of historical cost in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (effective April 2008), the Statement of Recommended Practice “Accounting and Reporting by Charities” (effective 1 January 2015), with Accounting Standards and with the Charities Act 2006.

Basis of preparation of accounts

These accounts have been prepared on the going concern basis.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees. Restricted funds can only be used for particular limited purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

Incoming resources

Incoming resources are recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when the charity becomes unconditionally entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy and where it is confident that it will be received.

Performance related income is only included in the SoFA once the related services have been provided.

Deferred income

Grants and donations received in advance and specified by the donor as relating to specific future periods or subject to conditions which are still to be met, are deferred to the period to which they relate.

Tax reclaims on donations

Gift aid tax reclaims on donations are included in the SoFA in the same period as the donations to which they relate.

Volunteer services

The value of volunteer services received is not quantified in the accounts but is described in the trustees’ report.

Investment income

Income from investments is included in the accounts in the period it is receivable.

Liability recognition

Liabilities are recognised as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to pay out resources.

Operating leases

Operating lease rentals are expensed on a straight line basis over the period of the lease.

16

Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

Report of the trustees

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

Notes to the Financial Statements

for the year ended 31 December 2020

2. Income

Unrestricted Restricted Restricted Restricted Total
Funds		 Total
Funds
Funds Funds 2020 2019
£ £ £
a Donations and legacies
Donations 57,705 7,893 65,599 63,248
Grantsfromtrusts 38,200 69,274 107,474 86,270
GiftAid 10,067 103 10,170 6,718
105,973 77,270 183,242 156,236
Grants received, included in the above,
are asfollows:
Anonymous - 1,100
Arundell Trust - 500
400 Caledonian Road 50 50 450
Borrows CharitableTrust - 1,000
CharitiesAidFoundation 6,725 6,725 -
ErnestIngramCharitableTrust - 500
Fitton Trust - 200
Henry Smith Foundation 15,000 15,000 30,000
Islington BoroughCouncilCoronavirus 10,000 10,000
Joan Ainslie CharitableTrust 5,000 5,000 5,000
Leathersellers 7,500 7,500 7,500
Lloyds 5,008 5,008 13,108
LondonCommunityResponseFund 12,546 12,546
Macquarie GroupFoundation - 2,262
MarshChristian Trust 450 450 400
Mercers - -
Mrs SmithandMountTrust 5,000 5,000 20,000
National Lottery CommunityFund 9,945 9,945
Norman EvershedTrust 250 250 -
PatNewman Memorial Trust - 2,000
Pilgrim Trust 10,000 10,000
Postcode CommunityTrust 20,000 20,000 -
ShanlyFoundation - 1,000
Stella Symons CharitableTrust - 250
WoodwardTrust - 1,000
38,200 69,274 107,474 86,270

17

Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

Report of the trustees

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

b Other fundraising activities
Fundraising event donations - - - 4,160
c Income from investments
CAFbankdepositinterest 7 - 7 12
d Income from charitable activities
Educationpractitionertraining 200 - 200 125
Community counselling 5,172 - 5,172 1,265
Prisoncounsellingincome - - - -
5,372 - 5,372 1,390
Total incoming resources 111,351 77,270 188,621 161,798

3. Expenditure

a By project

a By project
Community Parenting Prison
Counsellin		 Total
Charitable
Expenditur		 Total
Raising
Funds
Expenditur

Counselling		 Education
Support		 g e 2020 e 2020
Incurred directly on
activities
Staffcosts 12,938 7,594 18,59
0		 25,133 64,255
Premises costs - - - - -
Supervisioncosts 2,592 - - 3,260 5,852
Telephone and

communication		 - - - 168 168
Publicity - - - - -
Staffdevelopment - - - - -
Freelancercosts - - - - -
Resources/training costs 158 177 421 271 1,028
Volunteerexpenses 103 73 77 108 360
19,08
15,791 7,844 8 28,939 71,662 -
Support costs
Staffcosts 10,931 10,93
1		 10,93
1		 10,931 43,726
Office expenses 572 572 572 572 2,287

18

Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

Report of the trustees

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

Premises costs 6,662 3,331 6,662 3,331 19,987
Officemaintenance 482 482 482 482 1,926
Charitable donation -
CentresNetwork - - - - -
Event costs - - - - - 1,617
Fees and subscriptions 100 100 100 100 400 9,408
Freelancercosts 1,247 1,247 1,247 1,247 4,989
Insurance 156 156 156 156 623
Bankcharges 39 39 39 39 157
Bookkeeping costs 1,005 1,005 1,005 1,005 4,018
Publicity 250 250 250 250 1,000
Staffdevelopment 49 49 49 49 195
Telephone and
communication		 426 426 426 426 1,704
18,58 21,91
21,919 8 9 18,588 81,012 11,024
26,43 41,00
Total expenditure 37,709 1 7 47,527 152,674 11,024
Expenditure by project:
previous year
comparatives
Community
Counselling		 Education Parenting
Support		 Prison
Counselling		 Total
Charitable
Expenditu
re 2019		 Total
Raising
Funds
Expenditu
re 2019
Incurred directly on
activities
Staffcosts 15,733 8,031 18,361 27,692 69,817 -
Premises costs - - - - - -
Supervisioncosts 1,770 - - 2,480 4,250 -
Telephone and

communication		 - - - - - -
Publicity 339 50 81 201 671 -
Staffdevelopment 27 - 99 - 126 -
Freelancercosts - 4,680 - - 4,680
Resources/training costs 102 107 1,111 234 1,554 -
Volunteerexpenses 237 12 191 541 981 -
18,208 12,880 19,843 31,148 82,079 -
Support costs

19

Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

Report of the trustees

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

Staffcosts 10,140 10,140 10,140 10,140 40,560 -
Office expenses 421 421 421 421 1,684 -
Premises costs 7,377 3,127 7,377 3,127 21,008 -
Officemaintenance 513 513 513 513 2,052 -
Charitable donation -
CentresNetwork 500 500 500 500 2,000 -
Event costs - - - - - 3,520
Fees and subscriptions 104 104 104 104 416 9,004
Insurance 145 145 145 145 580 -
Bankcharges 32 32 32 32 128 205
Bookkeeping costs 836 836 836 836 3,344 -
Publicity 112 112 112 112 448 -
Staffdevelopment 1,311 1,311 1,311 1,311 5,244 -
Telephone and
communications		 348 348 348 348 1,392 -
21,839 17,589 21,839 17,589 78,856 12,729
Total expenditure 40,047 30,469 41,682 48,737 160,935 12,729

b By fund Expenditure on charitable activities

Unrestricted Restricted Total
expenditure		 Total
expenditure
Funds Funds
2020
2019
£ £ £ £
Staffcosts 47,910 60,070 107,981 110,377
Premises costs 15,119 4,868 19,987 21,008
Supervisioncosts 2,972 2,880 5,852 4,250
Publicity 1,000 - 1,000 1,119
Staffdevelopment 195 - 195 5,370
Resources/training costs 285 743 1,028 1,554
Travelcosts - - - -
Volunteerexpenses 228 132 360 981
Office expenses 1,603 684 2,287 1,684
Officemaintenance 1,926 - 1,926 2,052
Charitable donations - - - 2,000
Event costs - - - -
Fees and subscriptions 400 - 400 416
Full Cost Recovery (support
costs)		 - - - -
Freelancercosts 146 4,843 4,989 4,680

20

Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

Report of the trustees

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

Insurance 623 - 623 580
Bankcharges 157 - 157 128
Bookkeeping costs 4,018 - 4,018 3,344
Telephone and communication 1,270 601 1,871 1,392
77,853 74,822 152,674
Expenditure on raising funds
Event costs 1,617 - 1,617 3,520
Fees and subscriptions 9,050 - 9,050 9,004
Bankcharges 357 - 357 205
11,024 - 11,024
Total expenditure 88,877 74,822 163,699 173,664
c Employees
2020 2019
Gross salaries andwages 102,581 104,881
Employer'sNational Insurance 3,530 4,120
Employer's pensioncontributions 1,869 1,376
There are no employees who received emoluments in
excess of£60,000 (2019:nil).
Keymanagement personnel: Sophie Guthrie-Kummer,
ExecutiveDirector

4. Tangible fixed assets

None to report

5. Debtors

5. Debtors 5. Debtors
2020 2019
Gift aidrecoverable 3,805 2,722
Counsellingincome 500
Accruedincome and prepayments 10,042 3,172
14,347 5,894

6. Creditors

21

Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)

Report of the trustees

(incorporating the directors’ report) for the year ended 31 December 2020

2020 2019
Amounts duewithinone year 1,885 4,316
InlandRevenue andTax 1,859 -
Deferredincome and accruals - 5,124
3,744 9,440

7. Movement of Restricted Funds

Theory of
Change		 Theory of
Change		 **Education ** Parenting
Support		 Prison
counselling		 Core
costs
restricted
funds		 Total
restricted
funds
opening balance 8,415 450 2,593 - - 11,457
incomingresources - 12,596 17,996 25,000 21,678 77,270
resources expended 8,415 13,046 12,065 25,000 16,295 74,822
closing balance - - 8,523 - 5,383 13,905

8. Related Party Transactions

John Wyatt, trustee, is married to Celia Wyatt, who is employed as Prison Counselling Manager of Choices Islington and received a salary of £15,954 in 2020.

9. Trustee Expenses

No expenses were paid to trustees during 2020 (2019: £46.15).

22

Choices Islington (a company limited by guarantee)