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2023-03-31-accounts

ANNUAL REPORT [ ] 2022-23 [ ]

Printing House 66 Lower Road Harrow Tel: 020 8423 5948 HA2 0DH WWW.HASVO.ORG

Table of Contents

1. Background Introduction.....................................................................................3
2. Summary of services and activities during the year: ............................................3
3. The need for our work .........................................................................................4
4. How we help .......................................................................................................4
Our activities include: .............................................................................................5
•
Employability sessions: ................................................................................5
•
Drop-in sessions: ..........................................................................................5
•
Information sessions: ...................................................................................6
•
Education services for young people: ...........................................................6
•
Reduction of isolation and improving social networks: ................................7
Our track record ......................................................................................................7
Standard/Quality of services provided: ...................................................................9
5. Annual General Meeting: .................................................................................. 10
Involving the local community: ............................................................................. 10
6. Annual Accounts ............................................................................................... 12

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1. Background Introduction

Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organisations (HASVO) is a registered charity that supports Somali and Arabic speakers, refugees and disadvantaged migrants in Harrow. HASVO aims to increase cohesion and volunteering, promote healthy living and prevent substance misuse, improve disadvantaged people’s quality of life through advocacy, advice, increase youth achievement, and support training and employment.

This year we have seen an increased number of service users from the Arabic-speaking Community with the non-Somali speakers making 27% of the total supported.

We supported 2384 people through our different and comprehensive activities i.e. drop-ins, outreach, warm hubs; school/youth activities support and information sessions. A detailed description of these will be discussed in this report in later parts.

2. Summary of services and activities during the year:

HASVO's offices act as a hub for local people and groups facing a number of different issues.

Our services provided the following benefits to 2384 people and 4052 cases during this reporting year:

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3. The need for our work

We support socially excluded Somali and Arabic refugees and immigrants from the London Borough of Harrow and Northwest London. Many of them are new arrivals who have come to the UK in the last five years. They face a number of issues including poverty caused by unemployment or insecure labour which is caused by lack of English language, lack of local knowledge and skills, and a culture that leads to women having a restricted role in wider society. Covid-19 had a terrible impact upon our clients and this has been exacerbated by cost of living rises.

Statistics from the 2384 people supported last year shows that 63% were female, 82 % were aged over 18 years old, 43% were unemployed, 57% were employed but in low paid and low skilled occupations with an average income of £612 per month and 23% were registered disabled.

The majority live in poorer wards such as Stanmore Park, Roxbourne, Edgware, and Wealdstone. These areas have large numbers of poor-quality housing, crime and antisocial behaviour, lower life expectancy, and other issues.

4. How we help

HASVO provides a wide range of practical services to support disadvantaged people. They are provided by our small staff team supported by over 15 volunteers from our office which is close to social housing estates in Roxbourne. We also work in partnership with numerous other local charities such as Harrow Mind; Community Connex; Harrow Law Centre; Citizen Advice Harrow; Harrow Voluntary Action Group; Harrow Carers; Ignite; Wish Centre ; Schools as well as statutory organisations such as Harrow Council and CCG.

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Services are offered face-to-face through our drop-in sessions between Monday and Thursday with an additional appointments and support now organised on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays as a result of the cost of living crisis increased demand. Moreover, we provide support through our outreach services; over the telephone, and also using zoom or WhatsApp groups.

The demand and nature of issues experienced by the BME community grew up with the time and social mobility. For example; the key current issues are; Debt; Employment, incomes, Poverty and health issues and preventive medicine. Our Arabic speaking service users have additional barriers of integrating and coping with change specially females.

The greater use of online services has created new challenges for the new communities who are often illiterate or no skills and ability to use their phones or remember passwords. This situation has increased the number of times and length of contact per service user with some of them bringing every little question or enquiry in their UC .

Our activities include:

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The prevalence of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and associated deaths can be significantly reduced through physical activity. It is estimated that around 14.2% of the new diabetes cases in Harrow could be prevented if adults are 100% active, and 5.6%prevented if adults are 50% active. Only 76.9% of people do any walking at least once a week which is below the England average of 80.6%, Harrow is 2nd lowest in London. Another contributing factor to poor diet, exercise and general health is the high level of deprivation in parts of the borough (the most deprived in the UK are 2.5x more likely to have diabetes). People living in the 20% most deprived neighbourhoods in England are 56% more likely to have diabetes than those living in the least deprived areas [JSNA refresh].There is limited patient education and poor uptake of relevant services.There is low awareness and uptake of relevant local services providing behaviour changes or preventative services such as physical activity and healthy eating, as well as services including diabetic eye screening, structured education programmes and psychological support. A fundamental work of the NHS HASVO partnership Project is to help this community to benefit and access the same level of health care with the rest of the population and thus bridging the health indicator and healthy living gaps of the communities living in the same Borough. Changing attitudes and behaviour practices take bit longer than project cycles, but we are grateful for the approaches and resources invested in this direction by the team in partnership with the public health Harrow and NWL NHS.

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initiatives of family and youth activities inorder to reduce and combat the impact of the pandemic among the vulnerable communities.

We have organised and successfully implemented a two year project in partnership with Harrow Council and Ignite which have won praise from the community and beneficiaries of parent champion programme.

Our track record

HASVO has been in existence for 19 years and has built up extensive experience in helping local people. We hold a number of quality marks such as the Matrix Standard for our advice work and the NRCSE Quality Mark for our supplementary school. Our staff and trustees come from the Community we serve, so we can speak their home languages, understand their needs, and the issues affecting them, understand cultural norms and trusted.

HASVO is unique in Harrow as we particularly serve the Somali and Arabic communities and are the only organisation that has the language skills, lived experience, reach, and cultural sensitivity to do that effectively. We run a warm hub which is highly appreciated, and our staff are now dropping during the weekends to support them on issues related to cost of living as well as provision of health winter messages from the NWL NHS.

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We do work closely with local organisations such as Harrow Citizens Advice Bureau for example in cross referring clients . We also work at a strategic level in the Borough; for example we are active members of Harrow Community Health Touchpoint which is a weekly meeting group involving the local council, CCG, and a number of VCS groups including HASVO. These weekly meetings have enabled us to respond quickly to problems affecting people.We are a member of the Harrow Advice Network chaired by the Harrow Law Centre.

Harrow has wards such as Roxbourne which are in the top 20% deprived in the country. They have large numbers of social housing, and residents who are working in low paid insecure occupations or who are unemployed. As such they are vulnerable and are highly vulnerable to the current cost of living price rises, and we know from the growth in the number of people we are seeing, and the increasing complexity of their needs, that they are being severely impacted.

HASVO is in a good place to help them as we are located close to these wards, and have a Matrix accredited trained advice team in place. We serve over 2000 people each year, so we are well known, and many clients refer others to us for help. These connections into deprived communities and the fact that we are trusted by clients, mean that many agencies such as Harrow Integrated Care Partnership and Harrow Council see us as key in helping them to access isolated local residents. The gap we therefore particularly meet is that we help disadvantaged people who are particularly hard to reach.

The cost of living crisis has further exacerbated the situation like the rest of the UK with more people telling us that they are finding it hard to pay the bills, and they need help with crisis support, accessing complex welfare benefits, or help with debt particularly with utilities.

We have shown resilience and the capacity to adjust to the effects of the economic down turns that shook the nation which is impacting on our clients.

During this reporting period we received funding from the NHS Northwest London CCG; Trust for London; The Henry Smith Foundation; Tudor Trust ; Harrow Council ; Lottery Community Grant and Young Harrow Foundation. Their generosity gave us access to

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additional resources to deal with the increased demand and complexity of issues presented.

The resources from these organisations helped HASVO to undertake and continue providing our comprehensive services to new and old refugees and Migrants in Harrow and neighbouring Boroughs in west London.

Strengthening communities requires resources, and in particular a clear focus on putting in place individuals and teams whose primary job is to foster integration. Through designated funding, councils and major charitable groups like these can close the gap between the areas where strong social capital is already in place and those where it is not. This is likely to bring wider dividends as people within communities become more resilient, trusting, optimistic and open.

Small and medium organisations like HASVO play a vital role that others can’t reach. The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated and emphasised challenges for public trust. But it is likely these feelings of detachment could be exacerbated as the economic impact takes hold. To rebuild trust, it is essential that communities are given a voice, using approaches that support community engagement, enabling empowerment and ownership.

Standard/Quality of services provided:

During this reporting year, we successfully renewed our Matrix Quality Mark and continued to increase the training and skills of our staff and volunteers to cope with the changes in the needs of our clients and to meet the demands for service level agreement standards and policies.

Our staff have finished courses on: Universal Credit Managed Migration; Personal Independent Payment, Universal Credit Calculations, Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Adult Care 603/3462/9;Preparing for an appeal Tribunal, Housing Law and advice, Homelessness and Allocation Law, Housing and Mental Health.

We continue to be an active partner in the local affairs with the police, Harrow Council, Voluntary sector and attend all sessions of the community leaders meetings organised by the Local authority to discuss and convey our service users concerns and needs around issues of community cohesion and crime prevention.

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All current trustees receive regular annual in house and external courses on safeguarding and charity management roles. Courses on safe guarding are provided by the local voluntary action Harrow group which we are a member. The staff and volunteers attend courses on safeguarding organized and run by the Voluntary Action Harrow Group

They are all DBS checked and receive in house performance assessment and guidance of health and safety and other safe guarding policies.

5. Annual General Meeting:

This year we have our AGM in 7[th] October 2023 and elected five trustees. The trustees sat every eight weeks of their regular meetings to discuss issues and assess plans. The chair, Treasurer and secretary meet on every Wednesday.

Trustees and staff have organised four general community meetings and two focus group discussions on service user satisfaction during this reporting year.

The aims of these general meetings were; to give members of the community the opportunity to give feedback, give ideas and opinions about the running of the charity and to participate in the planning and strategies of the charity. The second session aimed to discuss crime, youth support and community outreach services for the elderly and those in need for support.

All our charitable activities are described in our objectives and focus on implementing supportive and enabling activities that help harrow communities to enjoy life in full and to reduce /bridge the gaps that are inherent in our societies as well as those originating from skills and knowledge gap between groups and communities.

Involving the local community:

HASVO is very much a user led organisation and involve clients in a number of ways:

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Monitoring feedback results shows that 97% of clients attending our advice sessions were satisfied with the outcome, 86% of people attending our employment sessions considered they were better placed for employment, and 89% of attendees at our information sessions reported that the support and information provided enable them to "make a more informed decision". Feedback includes:

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Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organisations Limited.

Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2023

Index of Financial Statement

Statement
Page
lndex .................................................................................... 1
Charity lnformation ................................................................ 2
Statement of Responsibilities ............................................... 3
Independent Examiner's Report ........................................... 4
Statement of Financial Activities ........................................... 5
Balance Sheet ........................................................................ 6
Audit Exemption .................................................................... 7
Notes to the Accounts .......................................................... 8-12

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Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organisations Limited.

CHARITY INFORMATION FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Status: The organisation is charitable company limited by guarantee incorporated on 26 April 2005.

Governing Documents: The Company was established under a Memorandum of Association which established under the objects and powers of the charitable company and is governed under its Articles of Association. Under this article, the members of the board are elected at the AGM to serve of the period of two years.

Charity Number: 1129442

Company Number 5435204

Registered Office Operational Office 66 Lower Road Harrow Middlesex HA2 0HD

Operational Office 66 Lower Road Harrow Middlesex HA2 0HD

Banker Lloyds Bank Wembley Branch Middlesex

Banker Bank of Ireland 7 St Johns Road Harrow Middlesex

Independent Examiner MAAT Abdirahman Amin 3 Bob Currie Close Harrow Middlesex HA2 9BF

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Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organisations Limited.

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES RESPONSIPLITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

The trustees of Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organisations Limited are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report and the accounts in accordance with applicable law. Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the charity and the income and expenditure of the charity for that period. In preparing those financial statements, the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with companies ACT 2006. 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.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the small companies' regime in Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006, and in accordance with the governing document and the Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102 - effective 1 January 2015) - (Charities SORP FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

Financial Review

For the year ended 31 March 2023, HASVO LIMITED received total sum of £175,354 of which £131,516 was restricted funds and £39,300 unrestricted funds. Total expenditure for the year ended 31 March 2023 was £170,692 (£131,130 restricted funds and £39,562 was unrestricted funds).

Independent Examiners Appointed

MAAT. Abdirahman Amin was appointed as the charity independent examiner during the year and has expressed his willingness to continue in that capacity.

Approved by the trustees on 20 August 2023

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Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organisations Limited.

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF YEAR ENDED

31 MARCH 2023

I report on the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023 set out on pages five to nine.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity's 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

Basis of the 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 statements 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 keep accounting records in accordance with Section 130 of the 2011 Act; and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and to comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act have not been met; or

(2) To which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. The trustees present their report and the financial statements for the year ended 31 March2023.

Abdirahman Amin..

Licensed Association of Accounting Technician BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance

83 High Street, Harlesden NWlO 4SJ

27/10/2023

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Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organisations Limited.

Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 March 2023.

Description
Grant and Donations
Notes
2
OtherIncomingRecourses
3
Total Incoming Recourses
RecoursesExpended
SupportCost
4
Estates facilities Cost
s
Charitable Expenditure
6
Accountantsand Governance
8
Total Resources Expended
IncomingOutgoing RecoursesBefore Transfer
FundsBroughtForwardon 31March2022
Total Funds C/F on 31 March 2023		 General
Funds		 Restricted
Funds		 2023/22
Total		 2022/21
Total
£
147,648
147,648
26,257
8,528
121,029
511
(156,325}
(8,677)
111,273
102,596
£
43,838		 £
131,516		 £
175,354
43,838
33,810
4,576
0.00
1,176		 131,516
6,260.00
7,900
116,970
0		 175,354
40,070
12,476
116,970
1,176
(39,562) (131,130) (170,692}
4,276
16,565		 386
85,993		 4,662
102,558
20,841 86,379 107,220

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Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organisations Limited.

Statement of Balance Sheet for the Year Ended 31 March 2023.

Description
Notes
Fixed Assets
Equipment
13
OtherFixedAssets
TotalFixedAssets
Current Assets
Debtors
Cashat bank andin
hand
TotalCurrent Assets
Creditors Amounts
fallingduewithin one
year
11
NetCurrent Assets
(Liability)
TotalAssetsless(Current
Liability)
CreditorsAmounts
fallingdueafter one
year
12
Net Assets
10
9		 General
Funds		 Restricted
Funds		 Total
Funds		 2023/22
Total		 2022/21
Total
£
6147
0		 £
0
0		 0
109,186		 £
6,147
0
104,866
6,147		 £
102,558
(3,229}
0
102,558		 £
4,845
0
99,329
4,845
6147
0
22,807		 0
0
86,379
22,807
(4,320)
18,487		 86,379
(0)		 109,186
(4,320)
24,634
(3,793)		 86,379
(O}		 111,013
(3,793)
107,220		 104,174
(1,578}
20,841 86,379 102,596

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Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organisations Limited.

AUDIT EXCEMPTTION STATEMENT

For the year ending 31 March 2023, the company was entitled to exemption under section 477 ofthe Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies. The members have not

required the company to obtain an audit for its accounts 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 records.

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees.

20/08/2023

Trustees Director: Cabdulqaad

Trustee: Ahmed Yusu Date 20/09/2023

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Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organisations Limited.

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023

1. Accounting policies

1.1 Basis of Preparation of the Financial Statements 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 Companies Act 2006 and the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities issued in March 2005.

1.2 Incoming resources Donations, legacies and other forms of voluntary income are recognised as incoming resources when receivable, except insofar as they are incapable of financial measurement. All incoming resources are included in the statement of financial activities when the charity is entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. The following specific policies are applied to categories of income: Voluntary income and donations are included in incoming resources when they are receivable, except when the donors specify that they must be used in future accounting periods or certain conditions have not been fulfilled, then the income is deferred. Grants where entitlement is not conditional on the delivery of a specific performance by the charity are recognised when the charity becomes unconditionally entitled to the grant.

1.3 Resources expended

Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries. It includes both costs that can be allocated directly to such activities and those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support them. Governance costs include those costs associated with meeting the constitutional and statutory requirements of the charity and include the Independent

Examiner's fee and costs linked to the strategic management of the charity.

All costs are allocated between the expenditure categories of the SOFA on a basis designed to reflect the use of the resource.

1.4 Grants

1.4.1.

Grants are credited to the Statement of Financial Activities on the earlier date of when they are received or when they are receivable unless it is specified that they are for a future accounting period, in which case they are included on the balance sheet as deferred income to be recognised in those future accounting periods.

1.4.2

Unrestricted funds are the funds of the charity which the trustees have decided at their discretion to set aside to use for a specific purpose. Restricted funds are donations which the donor has specified are to be solely used for areas of the charity's work or for specific projects being undertaken by the charity.

1.5 Tangible Fixed Assets and Depreciation, Tangible Fixed Assets are stated at cost less depreciation. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost less the estimated residual value of each asset over their expected useful life, as follows: Fixtures fittings and equipment: 20% Straight Line Basis

1.6 Financial review: Reserves Policy

Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organisations Limited holds funds from its reserves. The current financial risk is low however the trust has a policy to hold a reserve of £30,000 to cover six month's operating costs.

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Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organisations Limited.

2 HARROW ASSOCIATION OF SOMALI VOLUNTRY ORGANISATION

Grant and donations received

NationalCommunity Lottery
GLALondon
HarrowCouncil
CCG-NHS
YoungHarrow Foundation
HenrySmith
Imperial College
TrustForLondon
Tudor Trust
Grants and Donations
3
Other Income		 £
9,980.00
4,389.00
19,275.50
45,750.00
3,660.00
26,600.00
2,000.00
33,700.00
30,000.00

175,354.50
0
0
4
Support Cost
Bank Service Charge
Insurance
ITEquipment
VolunteerExpenses
Publicity
AdministrationCost
DepreciationCharge
Researchand Assessment
Workshop and Training
5
Estates facilities cost
RentExpenses
CouncilTax Harrow Council
Office Cleaning		 961.00
880.00
1,253.00
8,860.00
6,600.00
7,490.00
1,966.00
5,800.00
6,260.00
40,070.00
£
7,900.00
954.00
1,243.00

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Harrow Association Telephone Bill of Somali Voluntary Organisations Limited.

783.00

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Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organisations Limited.

Service Charge -utilities
6
Charitable Services Cost
Charity Workers Expenditure
Sessional Charity Workers Expenditure
Other Charitable Expenditure
7
Accountancy and Governance
Annual Account Preparation
Governance
Annual report preparation
8
Debtors
9
Cash
Opening Balance
Incoming Cash
Cash Expended
Closing Balance
10
Creditors Amounts Falling due
within one year
11
Creditors Amounts falling
Due after one year		 1,596.25
12,476.25

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Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organisations Limited.

Tangible fixed assets are depreciated at 20% straight line method.

12
Tangible Fixed Assets
Cost
Cost as at 1 April 2022
Additions
Revaluation
Cost as at 31 March 2023
Depreciation
Depreciation as at 31 March 2022
Charges for the period
On Disposal
Total depreciation at 31 March
2023
Net Book Value at 31 March 2023
Net Book Value at 31 March 2022		 £
8,575
1,253
9,828
1,715
1,966
0
3,681
6,147
7,251

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