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2022-03-31-accounts

THE FINANCIAL STATEMEKrs OF The Women & Families RESOURCE (ENTRE INSPIRE. EMPOWER. MOTIVATE. ACHIEVE FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH 2022

The Women & Families RESOURCE CENTRE

CHARITY INFORMATION

OUR TRUSTEES

MRS JUDITH NGUEBI NTAMARK MRS CHRISTINE GWENDA

MISS HELEN ITANJE MISS GOUNDO KOITA

MRS KARINE NGWE TONZOCK MRS TAZI ANYINGANG

CHARITY NUMBER

1131817

CHARITY OFFICE & SHOP ADDRESS

The Women & Families RESOURCE CENTRE

39 – 41 School Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 4LR

CHARITY CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS

98 Ranger Drive, Wolverhampton, WV10 6DB

Email: info@wfrc.uk.com Website: www.wfrc.uk.com

Telephone: 01902 715 045 / 07450 380 705

BANKERS

WISE BUSINESS

56 SHOREDITCH HIGH STREET, LONDON, E1 6JJ

Welcome to The Women & Families Resource Centre - Annual Report 2021 2022!

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2021/22 was another busy & challenging year for The Women & Families Resource Centre. It’s been particularly tough for the families we support, and as you can imagine, we’ve sadly seen a big increase in the number of people needing our help.

We worked hard to support our clients through the continued impact of the COVID pandemic and, in the latter part of the year, a reduction in benefits combined with job losses, furloughs & increased food and energy costs led to significant proportion of referrals citing low income as a reason even though one or more adult was in work. We know that families have faced a multitude of difficulties during the pandemic, and that continues to be felt in terms of family health and finances.

It was certainly another year of uncertainty and disruption as we have navigated lockdowns and restrictions. Many of the volunteers shared how being out & about in the community and doing something practical and positive during a challenging time was so important to them and I think we could all relate to that. I am so proud of the way our amazing staff and volunteers quickly adapted our existing models of support during the pandemic to provide online and telephone support.

Drawing on the lessons we learnt from supporting families remotely, we also established a new team of telephone support staff that runs alongside our in-person services. Moving forward, our new mixed model now offers families a variety of flexible ways to access our services as quickly as possible in a way that suits their needs. In this way, we provided a vital lifeline for many isolated and vulnerable families. We learnt many lessons from this time and over the last 12 months, we have yet again seen immense change in how we offer support to families.

A time of exciting growth

Looking into our organization has also never been more important, in particular supporting our committed staff team. Staying agile to respond to the growing needs of our community, our organization pivoted and expanded its services. I am incredibly proud that we have such a wealth of positive stories to share despite the difficulties of operating in yet another year marred by the pandemic. Despite all these challenges we have continued our organisational growth.

After much hard work, excitement and anticipation, we were delighted to have opened our first ever charity shop. Thank you to all those who have engaged, supported and partnered with us over the last year. We hope you can be part of this continuing and exciting journey. I also want to thank my fellow trustees. It is honestly a privilege to work with a group of such dedicated and passionate people, who give an incredible amount of time, usually behind the scenes to help people that they very rarely meet.

Mrs Judith N Ntamark Chair, WFRC Board of Trustees

Executive Director’s Report

As always, my heart is full when reflecting on the work at The Women & Families Resource Centre over the past year. We are truly blessed to have such an extraordinary group of dedicated staff, volunteers, funders, supporters and Board.

We have seen another extraordinary year, not without challenges and uncertainty along the way, with some remarkable and noteworthy achievements. Hard to imagine now that we have spent two years in significant lockdowns, compelling all of us to dig a little deeper, living with the impacts and consequences as many were directly impacted with covid through sickness, or deaths. The ability to navigate the COVID environment and the uncertainties around funding and programming, creatively and flexibly, is a true testament to the human condition.

We can are extremely proud of the hard work, enthusiasm & resilience of WFRC’s Board, staff and volunteers. Notwithstanding this complexity of the challenges, we managed to achieve & deliver a range of existing & innovative projects providing more options for women and girls to choose how they want to shape their lives. Amidst such change and growth, the heart of who we are remains unshakeable. Our service delivery and reach has increased substantially as our budget. So now we’re determined to do more, driven by the needs of the women and their families who need our support. There is much more to report on our achievements for the past 12 months. Please feel free to contact us for a full report for any project of interest.

We look ahead, grateful for what has been achieved, open to the challenges and more committed than ever to our mission and fulfilling our full potential to support families at the critical time of life.

Dr Karyne Tazi Executive Director

TRUSTEES REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2022

The Trustees present their report and the accounts for the year ended 31st March 2022. The Trustees confirm that we have paid due regard to the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit reporting in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.

ABOUT US

The Women & Families Resource Centre (WFRC) is registered with the Charities Commission in 2009 under the Charity Registration Number: 1131817

We are an organisation that is passionate about transforming the lives of disadvantaged and socially excluded women from deprived communities, as some of our trustees and members have faced similar issues. WFRC was established in 2009 when a group of local women became concerned that vulnerable and disadvantaged families’ needs were not being met within their community. A small group formed a management committee and then registered as a charity that now works with some of the most disadvantaged women and children of Wolverhampton’s deprived communities. This was done in response to a gap in reach and support provided by statutory services and identified through consultations.

Our main aim is to facilitate the integration of women into the community whilst empowering them to identify their own needs, create their own solutions and make their own choices so that they have lasting improvements to the quality of their life. We adopt a holistic (One Stop Shop) approach for the delivery of a range of services that we provide.

We help reduce isolation, relieve distress and poverty, promote the confidence, skills of women and help facilitate social integration particularly asylum/refugee seekers and newly arrived communities. Our services are free to any woman or child, regardless of race, culture or religion who is facing similar barriers or problems.

We are :

A Place that serves the needs of disadvantaged and vulnerable women by providing free services within a culturally sensitive, nonjudgemental and confidential framework. We facilitate the integration of women into the community whilst empowering them to reach and achieve their full potential.

OUR VISION

A diverse, tolerant and inclusive society where each woman, child and family is empowered to fulfil their full potential regardless of their background, to reach their goals and dreams as equal and contributing members of their community.

OUR MISSION

Our mission is to develop and maintain policies, programs, projects and activities that educate, inspire, empower and celebrate women, children and families. We aim to actively encourage women to be self-reliant, through empowering them to identify their own needs, make their own choices and create their own solutions.

Th• Wom¢n & F3Th1ilES RE ENTRE Our Im act Re ort 202112022 in Numbers 8127 4721 hours of Outreach & Community Support Of Baby essentials, food & equipment distributed to mums in need. hours of 1.1 Befriending Support hoursof 1.1 Counselling Support delivered to 182 women 3344kg 1668 of Food distributed to women & families in need. hours of telephone Helpline Support 772 Over 503 529 hours of Group & Workshop Support hours of Crisis Intervention Children & Young People Supported 386 Women Attended Groups Volunteers

WFRC ANNUAL SERVICES UPDATE [ 2021 – 2022]

The opening of our first charity shop & baby bank in Wolverhampton marked a new dimension to both the work and the fundraising of WFRC.

It was a fantastic opening ceremony with The Right Worshipful the Mayor of Wolverhampton, Councillor Greg Brackenridge cutting the ribbon & declaring it officially opened! The shop is designed to not only raise much-needed income to fund our services but is also a part of our service delivery: including a baby bank and advice/resource centre to help to make WFRC even more accessible to the public.

We sell quality, second-hand items including clothing and accessories, gifts, household items, books, CDs, DVDs and toys plus and a selection of new goods, including greetings cards and wrapping paper. Our goods come from generous donations from the community.

We’re proud and excited to have a presence in the town. It’s been a real team effort to get everything ready so it felt great to welcome our first customers. The early feedback was positive and we hope people enjoy shopping with us.

SISTERS WITH HEART BEFRIENDING

As 2021 drew to a close, poverty rates were rising, food bank use was at an unprecedented level and many of us were already feeling the effects of a looming cost of living crisis. We predicted an increase in referrals after the pandemic, however, we weren’t prepared for the numbers we have had to deal with after the pandemic. The number of clients referred to WFRC with severe depression and anxiety was growing and managed to reach its highest levels by December 2021.

We have been overwhelmed by an influx of people requiring support following the uplifting of the pandemic restrictions and our biggest challenge has been to ensure that we have sufficient resources and capacity to provide the much-needed community support.

COVID-19 & the cost-of-living crisis have compromised the health, mental health and livelihoods of so many individuals and families, causing more people than ever to reach out to us for help and support and so many are still relying on this help as they navigate their way back to normal.

Our volunteer befrienders continued to offer regular weekly support and practical help to families under stress. However, as the pressure increased on us to deliver more support, volunteer caseloads and responsibilities saw a steep increase, leading to emotional fatigue

and anxiety for some volunteers. Some found it hard and upsetting to manage their caseloads, to close case files, signpost or unfortunately turn away some families in need due to overstretched resources or capacity. We also experienced an overwhelming demand for our baby bank service as well as our emergency food parcels provision service.

“I opened the post and it was a card from WFRC and I just cried as I thought it was ... such a beautiful touch. Thank you so much to everyone at WFRC, I know my journey is only just beginning ... but I just wanted to say a thank you for bringing happiness and a sense of feeling that everything will be OK with something so sweet and small with a card.” ( Service User)

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

-50% of those asked increased their sense of life satisfaction.

-33% felt a decrease in the levels of loneliness.

-100% of those who answered said they'd gained greater social connection from participation in the online groups.

-90% of those who answered felt their sense of belonging and their skills and knowledge (generally) increase

-70% of those who answered felt an increase in self-confidence.

“My befriender listened and really understood where I was coming from and went above and beyond to help me feel safe and reassured. I also always received such a warm welcome from yourself and all of the team at WFRC. Before I met Laura, I was lonely, isolated and had no social networks. I look forward to my zoom meetings as it’s made a great difference in my life. ”

(Service User)

– Service User Story Annaya

‘My monthly electricity bill rose from £90 to £121.50. I couldn’t afford to feed my boys or keep the house warm for my sick child. Life became painful, unbearable and pointless’ (Annaya)

WFRC’s befriending team received a referral on a late Friday afternoon from social services to refer Annaya, a 34-year-old single Mum of three boys aged 3, 12 and 14yrs old. Annaya had called social services to request for her child to be removed from her care as she couldn’t afford to look after him. The referral stated that Annaya was in need of urgent support and that she was at a point of having a mental meltdown. She had asked the social worker to remove Aaron, her 12year old son, who was living with cancer and receiving chemotherapy, from her care as she simply couldn’t keep on with the excessive emotional and financial strain. At the time of calling, there was no food in the house, and she had no money to top up her electricity meter.

Sharon H, her befriender went out to visit her that evening. Annaya broke down into tears when she arrived and expressed that everything had suddenly become too overwhelming for her to the extent that she was thinking of taking her own life. She stated that She had stopped work as a hotel receptionist to look after her son after his diagnosis. However, her finances had quickly taken a downturn.

In Annaya’s own words:

‘I’ve worked since I was 16 and never struggled to provide for myself and my children, even as a single parent. Then all of the sudden, my son was diagnosed with a brain tumour which quickly became cancerous. I took a few unpaid leaves before giving up my job to look after him and became dependent on Universal Credits. Since our UC payments were significantly lower than my previous wage, I immediately cut down on what I couldn’t afford. I soon stopped buying anything for myself – haircuts, beauty treatments, contact lenses, clothes, socialising or nights out with friends. During the pandemic, I realised that I had unconsciously isolated myself.

With three kids, two who are teenagers and a very sick one, my life became wrapped around school, hospital visits. It was hard to keep contact with family or friends. I was constantly bombarded with requests for food from the boys. I got to a point where I had to eat sandwiches or packet noodles for days so that they can eat.

I can't really turn off the heating as my son is always so cold. It destroys me emotionally to see him slowly fading away and it cuts even deeper when I can’t afford to top up the electricity meter.’

Annaya expressed that the guilt of not being able to keep the house warm or feed her sick son was driving her insane. She felt that she was playing a part in killing him. Annaya revealed that she was in debts, had not opened any bills or letters for months and had stopped communicating with her energy providers. Her washing machine was broken, and she hadn’t considered repairing or replacing it as she was already struggling with food and heating.

INTERVENTION

Sharon her befriender took out an emergency food parcel for her initial visit and provided a £20 top up for her electric meter from the household covid winter fund. She visited Annaya twice a week for the first month and provided weekly food parcels for the family for four weeks. Her first few visits were about turning off the fires and providing the basic emergency needs before referring Annaya to receive weekly emotional or therapeutic support from the WFRC counselling service.

Sharon contacted and supported Annaya in applying and getting the care component of disability living allowance to help with part of the family’s extra heating costs. She also helped her to access a hardship grant from the job centre to start and set up a payment plan with her utility providers. Sharon supported Annaya in applying for help from Severn Trent Trust fund for her water bill as well as accessing Wolverhampton City Council’s household fund to purchase a washing machine, new kettle and some blankets for the family. Sharon also supported Annaya in joining a parenting group and provided stationery to help engage Annaya’s older son who had become very isolated and cold towards his mum and siblings.

Sharon feels that providing essential material items for the family helped build rapport and a trusting relationship from day one. Annaya now receives a monthly check up call from Sharon and has expressed in her feedback form that she has come a very long way from when she was first referred to our befriending service.

Our Baby Bundles

Our Baby bank prides itself on passing on items in great condition. All items are cleaned and, where necessary, safety checked. We take care in the presentation of our packs. We want families to feel like they are receiving a gift and not a hand-out.

GIRLS BABY BUNDLE BOYS BABY BUNDLE

NEUTRAL BABY BUNDLE

HOSPITAL ESSENTIALS

toothpaste

WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO....

Wolverhampton is in the 6% most deprived areas in the country and levels of deprivation in the city continue to rise. The recession has caused a significant increase in the number of people receiving key out-of-work benefits in Wolverhampton. There are 20,929 children living in poverty in Wolverhampton.

The lockdown is disproportionately affecting disadvantaged children as more families are being pushed into poverty through unemployment and debt with parents feeling anxious, isolated and struggling to stay positive.

“The Baby Bank supports my motivations and reasons for being a health visitor. It shows a woman that she is more than where the next nappy or wipe will come from and the child that they are not a burden.” (Health Visitor’s Voice)

Relieving stress, anxiety and depression in parents has a positive impact on the early experiences of their children and gives those children a better start in life. By assisting families during what can be one of the most challenging times in a parent’s life, we’re working to build a strong community for the future.

HEALTH IMPLICATIONS

Nappies are a necessity!

Parents living in poverty will often keep children in wet and soiled disposables for a long time — possibly even rinsing and reusing them. Babies who remain in a soiled nappies too long are exposed to potential health risks, such as painful rashes, yeast and bacterial infections, and even more serious side effects such as kidney damage.

MOTHER'S WELL BEING

Research from Yale University School of Medicine indicates that women who lack an adequate supply of nappies for their babies are more likely to report symptoms of depression and anxiety, than other low-income mothers.

“I’d like to thank you for all you that you’ve done for myself and my son. I wish I was physically able to show my gratitude for not only myself but for my son and family. Thank you, thank you, we genuinely appreciate it.” (Client’s Voice)

“I was terrified at the idea of starting over with my granddaughter. I had already had my children, but here I was with this tiny, baby girl. I knew I had to do it somehow, so she didn’t get taken in to foster care. I felt a huge relief when I showed up at the baby bank & explained my situation. Ijay instantly calmed my fears and I knew then that I could call them up to get advice on what help was available in Wolverhampton.” (Client’s Voice)

"This baby bank is God sent. Times have been really tough and the baby bank has helped my family very much. I only come when I really need it. I try to wait until I’m left with just a day’s supply of nappies. I’m also happy that I had the chance to bring back my baby’s bottle steriliser and baby carrier so that it could help other mums in my situation.”

WHO WE WORK WITH

Working with local partners through referrals from health visitors, children's centres, community hubs and other professional services who work with vulnerable families we support both parent and children who find themselves in difficult financial situations.

Achievements & Performance

During the financial period 1[st] April 2021 – 31[st] March 2022 we redistributed over 4721 baby essentials and equipment to over 294 families in need across Wolverhampton. This represents a 58% increase in demand from the previous year.

Having a baby is one of the biggest changes a woman can possibly go through. Here, at Wolverhampton Baby Bank, we are committed to helping mothers get a good start for themselves and their babies.

With rising living costs, one of the most expensive childcare systems in the world, high housing costs and the fallout from the pandemic, low-income families face setback after setback. It feels like they’re being forgotten about. Money is in such short supply for so many families that even a slight increase to energy bills or food prices could tip them into crisis.

The top reasons for families needing their help were:

69% of the families we helped had no recourse to public funds or were facing additional barriers & challenging circumstances such as:

----- Start of picture text -----
25% 21%
Victims of Domestic
Asylum Seekers & Violence or Sexual
Refugees Abuse
31%
Living with
Mental Health
Issues
11%
12%
Homelessness or
Substance Misuse
Teenage Mums or
Care Leavers
----- End of picture text -----

REFERRALS

We have built relationships with various referral partners including health visitors, social workers, family support workers, midwives, and schools. We also worked closely with local charities & other non-statutory partners to ensure that every referral was met.

The flexibility of our Referral form has also been an asset. We have been able to add questions as needed and remove those that were not producing in the information we required. It has recently been updated to assist referrers who have previously referred to us, or for repeat referrals, by reducing the amount of information that needs to be entered. We hope to continue to develop this, in consultation with our most frequent referrers, to reduce the workload of referring to WBB, whilst continuing to collect all the information we need to fulfil the requests and to inform our statistics which in turn we use for funding applications.

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“The support from WBB is invaluable! The cost for child items, from the daily need of nappies and clothes to larger items like strollers and car seats, can add up quickly. For many of our participants, the financial relief from the baby bank makes that one aspect of life a little less stressful as they focus on achieving other goals.”

(Social Worker’s Voice)

“Becoming a first-time mum during lockdown has been so tough. I’ve been through so many health issues and really felt isolated and all alone. I had many bad days but I’m glad I made it to the birth. I really appreciate the lovely gifts and the beautiful card. It gave me hope that tomorrow might get better. Thank you all for bringing much happiness for me and my little one.”

“I was having suicidal thoughts …I don’t know if I’d still be here for my daughter

without their help unfortunately. I think that’s how bad it was because I was so bad. I didn’t want to pick up my daughter, you know, I would let her cry.”

Covid Vaccine Champions

WFRC signed up as a community covid vaccine champion.

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VOLUNTEERS

Our amazing volunteers are the heart of all we do and we simply couldn’t do what we do without them.

As we emerge from Covid, we have felt a strong sense of family, community and connection amongst our volunteers. They care and support and encourage each other, which inspires us daily. All our volunteers give their time generously, despite having so many other responsibilities. As the landscape continued to shift

during 2021-22 and referral requests soared, we were so grateful for their continued service, and for being so adaptable. We often receive feedback from referrals and clients about how professional and hardworking our volunteers are and how they always go above and beyond to help the families they are supporting.

Our volunteer survey results...

93%

said that their skills had increased

90%

felt that they were making a useful contribution to society

84%

felt a greater sense of community

We are so grateful for all the volunteers who have helped us during COVID-19. Your help has allowed us to serve so many more families during these uncertain times.

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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & SEXUAL ABUSE SERVICES

The Women & Families Resource Centre continues to provide life-changing support to women impacted by domestic abuse. During the year we officially launched our helpline and increased our online engagement. These vital services will enable us to increase our early intervention and prevention work and reach more women at risk.

During 2021/22 we engaged with 414 women through our relationship and domestic support service.

Prevention and early intervention

We provided support, risk assessment and safety planning for 130 standard and medium-risk women through all of our support pathways.

Emotional and Specialist support for black & ethnic minority women

Due to an unprecedented demand for this service, we provided culturally sensitive needs assessment and support to 76 women who face additional barriers to accessing services and safe accommodation. During the year we engaged the services of an immigration solicitor to secure residency status for women without recourse to public funds and successfully found 13 previously destitute women safe accommodation away from their perpetrators. We also educated & engaged 318 women through self-help groups, domestic violence workshops & events.

Our international women’s day event engaged both women & men in the important conversations of conflict management within the family unit.

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COUNSELLING SERVICES

Our free counselling service continues to provide an important lifeline for women experiencing trauma and mental health difficulties. This year our counsellors offered a blend of remote delivery and in-person sessions providing one-to-one sessions for talking therapy we delivered 819 hours of counselling and supported 182 clients.

YOUTH ACTIVITIES

Our young ‘Ladies in-Formation’ program provided fun, educative and interactive workshops & activities to promote positive mental well-being & resilience for young girls aged 14 -18 years. Each workshop or activity is facilitated by trained mental health and wellbeing professionals and volunteers based around or with the inclusion of confidence building and empowerment, school life & peer pressure, depression, money matters, self-image & the role of social media on mental health. The program provided an exclusive regular time and space for young women and girls to commune and helps them to develop resilience from a young age, so that they are equipped to deal with life’s normal ups-and downs, to understand their emotions, and to seek help when they need it.

We have proudly watched our participants grow in confidence, self-belief and team spirit. Above all, they enjoyed activities full of fun, laughter and celebration. We were extremely delighted to have two of our participants were selected as youth councilors for Wolverhampton, with another three now sitting on Wolverhampton’s Youth Engagement Strategy board.

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Encouraging their involvement within the community & raising personal development & excellence was just one of the visible outcomes of this programme.

CHRISTMAS GIFTS

We provided gifts for 221 families, reaching a total of 501 children. The reality is that many of the families who we have worked with throughout the year often don’t have enough money to support their families day-to-day, never mind having enough money to indulge at Christmas. The aim of our Christmas party is not just to provide some fun and normality for a child but it’s about dignity and comfort at a time that’s extremely difficult financially to so many parents.

Each gift bag was donated with love, thanks to the generous donations received especially from giving world and Wolverhampton Wanderers Community Foundation. The party successfully achieved its aim of each family feeling loved and supported by the community at a time when so many people feel very isolated and lonely.

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FUTURE PLANS

At our strategy day, we agreed to carry forward three existing objectives around our increasing our capacity, fundraising and demonstrating our impact. We subsequently set up a strategic working group to identify our principles for the next three-year strategy period and look for ways to broaden our reach as an organisation. In the coming year we will continue to develop ambitious plans for

Women & Families Resource Centre, focusing on long-term sustainability, achieving the best possible outcomes for our service users and ensuring that all of our wonderful staff and volunteers feel valued and cared for. We look forward to continuing our work as we embark on the refreshment of our strategy 2023-26.

Trustee Expenses

No trustee received any expenses during this year or the previous year.

Trustee Remuneration And Benefits

No trustee received any remuneration or benefit during this or the previous year.

Risk Management

The Trustees review the major risks facing the Charity on a regular basis, monitoring reserves and reviewing key financial systems to ensure sufficient resources are available to meet our obligations in the event of adverse conditions.

The Trustees have also examined other operational and business risks faced by the Charity and confirm that they have established systems to manage significant risks.

Key risks to the Charity include:

• The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the ability of the charity to deliver its operations in practice; in the context of ongoing high levels of uncertainty about how the pandemic will continue to affect the charity and wider society over the medium term

• The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the ability of the charity to fundraise, in particular through community and events fundraising in the light of social distancing restrictions, and thus on income levels for this financial year and beyond.

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The systems of control and activities to minimise risk include:

Strengthening Income

Building financial resilience, a cornerstone of our survival, will remain a priority, including expanding the ways in which income is generated.’ Our new charity shop is helping to increase much vital unrestricted income for the organisation in these challenging times and our fundraising team is continually seeking opportunities to increase our stability and sustainability by increasing our income.

Reviewing Expenditure

To increase our available resources, reviewing our expenditure has now become an ongoing process. This includes constantly and thoroughly renegotiating core contracts with suppliers, switching to cheaper providers, or exploring the in-kind support that may relieve a key expense.

The Trustees ensure that the management of risk and evaluation of outcomes are ongoing and embedded in management and operational procedures.

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STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES RESPONSIBILITIES

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the annual report and the financial statements with applicable laws and regulations.

The Charity 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 charitable organisation and of the income resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure of the charitable organisation for that period. In preparing these financial statements the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of charitable organisation and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charitable Act 2011 and the charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2011.

The Trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable organisation and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Reference and Administrative details are shown on page one of the Financial Statements

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TREASURER’S REPORT

We declare that this Financial Account for the period from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 is prepared on a receipts and payment basis and contains an assets and liabilities statement prepared from the books, vouchers, information we have accumulated over the period. This is in compliance with the Charities Act 2011.

These accounts have been externally examined by

Cahinia & Co. Accountants

Bank House

6 Hockley Hill

Birmingham

B18 5AA

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INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF

THE WOMEN & FAMILIES RESOURCE CENTRE

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Charity for the year ended 31 March 2022.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act').

I report in respect of my examination of the charity's accounts as carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act. In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Cahinia & Co Accountancy Bank House, 6 Hockley Hill Birmingham, B18 5AA 10 October 2022

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STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES TO 31.03.2022

INCOME INCOME 2022 2021
Unrestricted Restricted Funds
Total
£ £ £ £
Grants (*2a) 12,000.00 48,352.00
 60,352.00 57,258.00
Donations 866.12 - 866.12 1074.25
Events & Registration 423.10 - 423.10 325.60
Charity Shop 4219.32
 - 4219.32 0.00
Contracts 8912.00 17,875.00 26,787.00 12564.00
Total Income 26,420.54 66,227.00 92,647.54 71,221.85
Expenditure
Wages 3962.00
 26,080.00
 30,042.00 26069.00
Rents & Overhead 4250.00 3963.52
 8213.52 2531.55
Equipment & Stationery 1065.40 4460.99
 5526.39 11,257.00
Youth Activities 1780.00 8307.99
 10,087.99 3521.02
Volunteer expenses 3566.81 7386.90
 10,953.71 7612.79
Volunteer Training 345.60 2901.40
 3247.00 2595.00
PR & Marketing 680.66 1126.00
 1806.66 1686.14
Outreach & Befriending*3 7403.00 6867.00
 14,270.00 10,865.00
Workshops & Seminars 438.82 2610.98
 3049.80 593.00
Events 0.00 0.00
 0.00 0.00
Total 23,492.29 63,704.78
 87,197.07 66,730.50
Surplus/ deficit for theyear 2,928.25 2,522.22
 5,450.47 4,491.35

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STATEMENT OF ASSETS & LIABILITIES AT 31 MARCH 2022

Fixed Assets
Tangible Fixed Assets
Current Assets
Cash in Hand & At Bank
Current Liabilities
Total Assets		 £
8,462
(2,288)		 2022
2021
£
£
£
27,200 24,391
11,528
(3,419)
10,750 8,109
37,950 32,500
32,500 28,008
2,928 1,436
2,522 3,056
Total Assets
Reserves
Balance brought forward
Unrestricted (for the year)
Restricted (for the year)

Total Reserves 37,950 32,500

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NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

For The Year ended 31[st ] March 2022

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The financial statement is prepared on a receipts and payment basis and contains an assets and liabilities statement prepared from the books, vouchers, information we have accumulated over the period. This is in compliance with the Charities Act 2011.

2. INCOME

Incoming Resources for the charity are:

(a) Grants and donations

Grants have been received from The Imagine Foundation, Rosa UK Fund, The Allen Lane Foundation, The Souter Charitable Trust, Awards for All, The JJ Charitable Trust, The Prince of Wales Charitable Fund, The Charles Hayward Foundation, The Persula Foundation and many more. These have been key sources of funding for the charity. Restricted and unrestricted funds are always welcomed by the Women & Families Resource Centre.

(b) Contracts

We are very grateful for local contracts received from Head Start &WV10 Consortium. We were especially grateful to run the winter household support fund from Wolverhampton City Council.

(c) Member Contribution, Events & Registration

Membership contributions reduced this year as a result of the pandemic. All our events and workshops were free.

(d) Charity Shop

Rising energy costs and inflation as we emerged from the covid -19 restrictions and opened our charity shop and services have proven to be a real existential threat. We experienced low business activity as a result of the steep decline in footfall, especially with the roadworks directly in front of our shop. We hope to experience increased sales as the pandemic eases off.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Women & Families RESOURCE CENTRE would like to take this opportunity to express its sincere thanks to all our past previous & current funders and supporters especially those cited below ( who funded us through the period of April 2021 – March 2022) for your continuous support:

The Imagine Foundation Awards For All
The Allen Lane Foundation The Persula Foundation
Wolverhampton City Council Baron Davenport’s Charity
The Prince of Wales Charitable Fund The JJ Charitable Trust
Rosa UK The WV10 Consortium
Wolverhampton Wanderers Foundation William A Cadbury Charitable Trust
The Charles Hayward Foundation The Albert Hunt Trust
Souter Charitable Trust 29thMay 1961 Charitable Trust
Roger & Douglas Turner Charitable Trust The Grimmitt Trust
The Cole Charitable Trust The Saintbury Trust
Arnold Clark Foundation Sported Foundation
The Leather sellers Foundation Warburtons- Families Matter
The Rowlands Trust The CB & HH Taylor 1984 Trust
The Pat Newman Memorial Trust Giving World Online
CAATS Services Ltd

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Volunteers

Thank you to our volunteers!

The Women & Families RESOURCE CENTRE relies heavily on the time and dedication of volunteers to provide front-line support and advice, deliver services to the community and raise awareness of our work. We can never thank or appreciate all the volunteers at the Women & Families Resource centre as much as they deserve.

This year we have continued to offer a range of excellent opportunities for volunteers, giving them the chance to develop new skills, gain experience and help the local community. We are very fortunate to have a committed and wonderful set of volunteers here at WFRC who provide enormous support to the staff and women who attend the centre.

This Document Was Approved By The Trustees On

Friday, 25[th ] November 2022

And Signed On Their Behalf:

.................................................... ..............................

JUDITH NGUEBI NTAMARK TAZI ANYINGANG

CHAIR TREASURER

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