OpenCharities

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2022-03-31-accounts

wwvi.hear-us.or HEAR US ANNUAL REPOR 2021122 esilienceT don's alth service user group Ch&rity # 1135535t Company # 06891337

Our Mission: to promote, educate, communicate and empower, for the benefit and interest of people affected by mental health issues

Objectives and Activities

Relieving the needs of people living in the London Borough of Croydon and surrounding areas who have mental health problems through advice and practical services

Educating the wider public about mental health to improve their awareness and reduce the stigma attached to mental health

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HEAR US ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

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CHARITY NUMBER 1135535
COMPANY NUMBER 06891337
CONTENTS Page
Chair of Hear Us Statement 4
Chief Executive Officer Statement 5
A Big Thank You 7
Linkworkin Pro ect 8 - 11
g j
Welfare Sur eries Pro ect 12 - 13
g j
Mental Health Open Forum 14 - 15
Reachout Challen e 16 -17
g
Service Development & Fundraising 18 - 19
Cro don Ea les 20
y g
Equal Ops Monitoring 22 - 23
Membership - Together We Are Stronger 24 - 25
Donate and Support 26
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CHAIR OF HEAR US STATEMENT

Working as interim Chair since December 2021, I feel very privileged to have formally stepped up to Chair in December 2021. I am so proud of the work of our Chief Executive, Tim Oldham, who together with our wonderful staff and volunteers have worked tirelessly on the frontline to provide essential support and services, enabling Hear Us to support more people than ever before, achieving organisational growth in the most challenging of times.

Although Covid-19 restrictions were officially lifted on 24th February 2022, the pandemic continued to have an impact on society, our economy and our ways of working, meaning that our support and services have never been more needed. It has been a tough time for staff and volunteers, but everyone has kept working tirelessly to deliver the best possible service, while adapting to the new way of working by continuing to provide services virtually while working from home. The Open Forum was held remotely via Microsoft Teams. The Linkworking team ran virtual and telephone Linkworking sessions. Although reduced, the Reachout project continued to deliver sessions to the Metropolitan police.

As a result of all the tremendous passion, dedication and commitment of Hear Us staff and volunteers we are in a position to be able to expand our workforce and secure the future of all Hear Us activities. Our funders have trusted us to continue to deliver and evolve our vital services in Croydon. Eleanor spearheaded several successful funding bids while building good relationships with our funders. The whole team have been involved in the huge amount of work required to prepare for the Advice Quality Standard (AQS) assessment due in June 2022. Claire Hawkes accepted the newly created position of Deputy CEO. Thank you to Jonathan Weller for stepping up to Treasurer and welcome our two new Trustees, Niall McVeigh and Jackie Ashton

I would like to extend a well done and huge heartfelt thanks on behalf of myself and all the Trustees to staff and volunteers for continuing to make sure that the voice of service users is heard loud and proud in Croydon.

Abbi Greene Chair Hear Us Orchard House, 15a Purley Road South Croydon, CR2 6EZ

020 8681 6888 Email: info@hear-us.org www.hear-us.org www.guide-hear-us.org Company # 6891337 Charity # 1135535

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CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S STATEMENT

Hear Us is a service user-run charity that supports and advises people with serious mental illness to access financial, health and social inclusion services within the borough of Croydon. We are unique in that all 50+ staff, volunteers and the majority of our trustees are people with lived experience of mental illness; many of us still receive support from the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLaM). This report provides a summary of Hear Us’ activities during 2021/22

Each year Hear Us staff and volunteers signpost, support, provide advice and listen to around 3500 people affected by mental illness – with COVID-19 pandemic restrictions; we have still been able to provide advice and support to around 1970 people each year of COVID.

Linkworking Project: Managed by Barbra Davison

Before the COVID-19 Pandemic, Linkworking project had 20 Linkworkers covering 13 wards and services and running 17 sessions per week, we have continued to deliver this project by introducing remote Linkworking Sessions and prioritising the inpatient wards, Gresham 1 & 2, Tyson West, Fitzmary 1 and Gresham PICU. Our Linkworkers remotely contact service users on these wards using iPads.

In February 2023, we will restart face-to-face Linkworking sessions across Croydon’s mental health inpatient wards at the Bethlem Royal Hospital and community services based at Jeanette Wallace House and Queens Resource Centre.

Open Forum: Chaired by Claire Hawkes

We have been successfully running our open forum since 2003; however, similar to the Linkworking Project, the Open Forum has also been affected by the pandemic moving from in-person to remotely running the Open Forum via Microsoft Teams; sadly, we have seen a drop in numbers from 45 to 30, but we will in the New Year be returning and live-streaming the events to allow for people who are unable to attend in person, to access. We have been able to continue running the Open Forum ten times per year remotely, except for April 2020, when COVID-19 hit. The forum has continued to allow service users to meet with commissioners and service providers.

Welfare Surgeries Project: Managed by David Ashton & Cheryalin Wilfred

COVID-19 hasn’t stopped our Team from running this vital service which has been providing advice and support to those living with mental illness to navigate the DWP’s complex welfare benefits system. We support our service users in claiming Employment Support Allowance (ESA), Personal

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Independence Payment (PIP) Universal Credit (UC) and when required, we represent them at tribunals. One of our aims is to empower all service users by giving them the necessary skills to maintain their own claims; we believe that being, and feeling, that you are in control of your own finances helps you feel in control of your own life, enabling good recovery and stable wellbeing.

Planning for our future

We invested in a Fundraising and Development Manager, Eleanor, whose responsibility has been developing our new 2020-23 business plan with the view to bringing in new funding from City Bridge and the National Lottery, enabling us to expand our Welfare Surgery Project, giving more people access to support and advice around benefits, funding has also allowed us to bring in a Deputy CEO, Claire Hawkes, to support our project managers and me.

Looking forward to 2023-25, we are looking to expand our work into neighbouring four boroughs of SLaM (Croydon, Lewisham, Lambeth and Southwark) and the boroughs of the South West London Integrated Care System (ICS), which are Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth. We will try to find service user groups in these boroughs and share our project and working methodologies.

During the pandemic, Hear Us staff worked hard and long hours to get accredited with the Advice Quality Standard.

It has been a privilege working alongside my colleagues, who continue to deliver amazing attitude, care, and peer support to the mental health community of Croydon.

Tim Oldham

Chief Executive Officer

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I would like to thank all my staff: Al, Barbra, Carmen, Cheryalin, Claire, David and Eleanor, for all the support they have given me during the past year and the help they have given to make Hear Us stronger and more dynamic and thank the following for all the work they have put into making Hear Us brilliant:

The Welfare Surgeries Project Team managed by David and and his advisor, Cheryalin, with support from Barbra and Claire

The Linkworking Team led by Barbra: Ben, Calbert, Christine, Horace, John, Jonathan, Letitia, Lorraine, Richard, Sharon, Tim. Ben, Calbert, Christine, Horace, John, Jonathan, Letitia, Lorraine, Richard, Sharon and Tim.

The Reachout Team led by Barbra: Calbert, Caz, John (Thompson), Jonathan, Martine, Sharon, Tim and Tony

A massive thank you to everyone involved over the past year in making our Mental Health Open Forum such a success from all the guest speakers to the Hear Us staff (Barbra, Claire, David, Eleanor & Shellie) and volunteers (Caz, John, and Martine who all help in the smooth-running of the forum. And of course, thanks to everyone who attends the forum, asking thought provoking and sometimes difficult questions and contributing to some lively debates.

I would like to thank all the Trustees that have helped steer the organisation: Abeline, Angela, Caz, Jackie, Jonathan, Josh, Karen, Niall & Ruth. Finally, I would like to thank everyone that has helped Hear Us grow over the years and blossom to become the charity it is today.

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Our CEO set up Linkworking after experiencing his own admission to the Bethlem Hospital himself. He remembed how confusing and lonely that felt and once well and sometime after he set about launching a peer support service where previous service users provide a listening ear, support and signposting into community based services. They also feed information and concerns raised to the senior operations team based in Croydon. This is all done in the spirit of improving services and sharing good practice across Croydon based South London and Maudsley (SLaM) services both in-patients and community based.

Peer support has proven to be effective in engaging services users and hearing what they want and what works for them on their journey of recovery. The Linkworkers are able to share parts of their journey on a need-to-know basis and when it benefits the situation and use their experience to empower others to see life can be meaningful and fulfilling even with a diagnosis.

Well what a year that was! I am sure none of us imagined over a year later we would still be facing restrictions on movement and working practices.

Not being an organisation that lets the grass grow under its feet we put our thinking caps on and together we worked on how we could reach service users during the restrictions imposed on those staying in hospital. We turned to Teams on Microsoft and embraced a new virtual world

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and then the subsequent nationwide lockdown, things changed rapidly for everyone. Thankfully, Hear Us staff were able to continue working from home, and with laptops and mobile phones were able to keep connected. We were able to continue some of our projects whilst remotely working using phone and email. Within a week or so, our team quickly started using Microsoft Teams to have

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virtual meetings and were able to discuss how to keep all our projects going through the pandemic/lockdown, including Linkwork.

From March 2020 visitors were no longer allowed on SLaM wards, and this included Linkworkers. CMHT buildings were also closed to all but a few essential visitors. Hear Us were concerned about the impact on service users, so we responded quickly to the challenge. Our monthly Linkwork Champions meetings were still able to go ahead – albeit through virtual meetings held on Microsoft Teams. Here, Linkworkers were able to meet with service managers, matrons and the head of OT to find out about life on the wards for patients and discuss how we could continue to support the patients throughout lockdown.

We quickly created a poster with our mobile phone numbers on and arranged for these to be displayed on all the wards and at CMHT sites. It wasn’t long before we had patients on wards and service users in the community calling us for support. By April, we were already back to being able to listen, support, signpost and feedback concerns to the wards and CMHT. Service users called us from wards and the community and we were able to keep in contact with those who wanted to. Our telephone Linkwork service enabled us to help resolve issues for service users and it meant that we were not solely reliant on the staff to keep in contact with service users and track progress.

Once our telephone service was established, and it was clear that the pandemic and all its challenges was here to stay, we suggested trying ‘virtual’ linkwork sessions on the wards. We understood that patients were missing having faceto-face conversations and that video calls were the next best thing to physical visits to wards. Each SLaM ward was given a number of tablets which would enable video calls. In July, we piloted this on one ward to begin with and it worked well. We now have seven weekly ‘virtual’ Linkwork sessions happening and are in the process of setting up these sessions with the remaining wards that Linkworkers usually visit.

Over the past year we held 322 Remote Linkworking Session and had conversations with over 550 service users who raised 1596 comments and have been able to listen, signpost and support where required. Some service users have had little or no contact with family and friends and found comfort in talking to someone that is not clinical staff.

Each ward facilitates these sessions differently. One runs it as a group session, one has an OT present in the background whilst individual service users speak to Linkworkers separately, and another ward allows the service user to take the tablet to their own room.

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Despite the current restrictions of the pandemic, there are some positive aspects of our new way of working, for example where a patient has been able to speak to Linkworkers in the very private space of their own room. Quite often on a ward it is difficult for the service user to speak fully openly with staff in the vicinity. Where the OT has been present, sometimes the service user has disclosed things to Linkworkers that the OT was not aware of, which has meant they are better able to support the service user.

There are obviously also challenges to ‘virtual’ Linkworking such as, technical issues and lack of knowledge from the staff about using Microsoft Teams. Most of our regular Linkworkers have been able to learn and adapt to working in this new way, however they need to be able to access Teams on an appropriate device and have access to the internet, which has not been possible for everyone. We are able to record some data (confidentially) and quickly collate this which in some ways is better and quicker than using paper forms etc. However, it has been challenging to obtain as much equal opportunities data and feedback, as these would usually be done on paper by the service user and would be anonymous. We have developed some anonymous online surveys but this will require a level of IT knowledge from the service user.

‘Virtual’ Linkwork also requires more support from the staff to facilitate this, and on a busy ward this has not always been possible. Support from the staff is crucial and if an OT is not available to facilitate, then this becomes more problematic. We are much more reliant on staff to facilitate, whereas when visiting a ward, they only need to let Linkworkers on to the ward. They don’t need to be present or available for the session.

So far, we have had very positive feedback from staff and service users about ‘virtual’ Linkworking, and are continually reviewing, adapting and changing as needs dictate.

Barbra Davison, Linkworking Manager Hear Us Orchard House, 15a Purley Road, South Croydon, CR2 6EZ

Tel: 020 8681 6888 Mobile: 07749 156 828 Email: linkworking@hear-us.org www.hear-us.org/linkworking/

Barbra Davison Linkwork Manager

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It has been an incredibly difficult couple of years for everyone due to the Coronavirus pandemic, people have been more afraid, more isolated and people’s mental health has suffered.

It has been a year that has left everyone very uncertain, people and organisations, and it has been no different for Hear Us. As a Service User run organisation we are a group of people living with mental illness and our mental health has been affected by the pandemic, but as Service Users we have always been motivated to help others who struggle, like we do, with mental illness and we remain motivated to try and help as many as we can who struggle to make benefit claims or have received bad decisions on their benefits or those who just need help to understand their benefits and changes that they may have faced.

Many have felt increasingly isolated as a result of the pandemic and have turned to us, not for help with benefits or to access services, but simply to have a friendly, nonjudgemental voice at the other end of the phone who can be a witness to their existence and leave them feeling less alone.

We have done our best to continue to support the mental health community in Croydon but we have had to find new ways of working, helping people over the phone or

via video calling, to avoid seeing people face to face and putting them and

ourselves at risk. We

have had to adapt

to rapid changes to

the benefit system

introduced as a result

of the pandemic, that

have caused a great deal of anxiety to claimants and have left many confused.

Some have received letters stating their benefit awards were extended only to receive renewal forms a few weeks after, many have called us not knowing whether to fill out and return these forms or whether they could be ignored. Some have seen changes to the amount of money they receive that has scared them as they believe an error has been made and they may have to face being chased to pay money back.

Benefit assessments and tribunals have been conducted by phone and video, for some this is harder than a face to face assessment due to feelings of paranoia or

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David Ashton Welfare Manager

Shellie Wilfred Welfare Advisor

The Hear Us Mental Health Open Forum is a place for service users to join together and discuss services that they access and other issues that affect them. The forum is primarily aimed at service users, but we welcome carers, volunteers, staff and anyone with an interest in mental health to discuss the issues that affect us all. We often have a good cross-section of all the above – depending on the topic of course!

Claire Hawkes; Open Forum Chair

The Open Forum would usually be held at the CVA building in West Croydon on the first Tuesday of every month, however due to the global pandemic and subsequent restrictions on meeting indoors and in groups we had to cancel our physical open forums for the safety of everyone. We had to be especially mindful of the potentially vulnerable community, that we are part of.

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It has been a challenging couple of years for everyone, and social isolation has been more prevalent than ever – especially during the nationwide lockdowns, we have all faced. Back in 2020, once we realised that Covid was not going anywhere and we would likely remain isolated from each other for a prolonged period of time, Hear Us rose to the challenge and the open forum went online! So, since 2020 we have been holding ‘virtual’ open forums with the usual guest speakers, workshops, and focus groups. The only thing missing is the lunch!

Guest speakers have ranged from heads of services, clinical leads, and frontline workers from SLaM, the BME Forum, Croydon University Hospital, the Recovery College, and the CCG to name but a few. Topics have included ‘Reducing Health Inequalities & Addressing Barriers in Mental Health for BAME Communities’, ‘Croydon Health & Wellbeing Space’ and ‘Mental Health Transformation – Croydon’.

We have run workshops facilitated by staff from both statutory and voluntary mental health services, including ‘Managing Mental Health and Anxiety’ and ‘Managing Your Mood’. Some of our focus groups have included hot topics such as ‘Reducing Health Inequalities and Addressing Barriers in Mental Health for BAME Communities’ and ‘#KeepTheLifeline Campaign - Make the £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit permanent’.

In spite of the pandemic, we have been able to reach a new audience of people who may not have attended a physical forum in person in the past due to timing, location, mobility or other challenges. People attend from all over the country and from as far afield as the Philippines, as well as many of our usual attendees from Croydon.

On the other hand, we understand that many people are digitally excluded and unable to access the forum online, so we are hoping to resume usual activities as soon as it is safe to do so. We are planning to continue using a digital platform alongside the in-person forum to ensure people are still able to connect, who are not able to attend in person - hopefully maintaining the best of both worlds!

Thanks to everyone involved over the past couple of years, in making our virtual Mental Health Open Forum a success, including all the guest speakers, Hear Us staff and of course, everyone who attends and asks challenging questions to those who provide our services.

If you are interested in joining us at the Open Forum please feel free to come along or contact: Claire Hawkes; Open Forum Chair Tel: 020 8681 6888 Mobile: 07749 156 828 Email: forum@hear-us.org Webpage: www.hear-us.org/forum

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The last few years has been a challenge for many of us and normal seems so far away!

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The Reachout Project has continued to provide training sessions to the Metropolitan Police Hostage & Crisis Course at England and Wales headquarters in Leatherhead. Albeit a scaled down version and only a few volunteers have been able to attend.

The steering group have met a couple of times through Teams and we are looking at developing the session onto a virtual platform so we are able to reach out to more organisations during this pandemic and beyond. t

We have been approached by a couple of community based organisations with the aim to provide our training session to their frontline staff.

We read some poetry, run a quiz and myth busting exercise to get the session going, and break out into groups and give the delegates a chance to ask us ANY questions which they would find difficult to ask when we are unwell.

We also encourage the organisation to talk about and support their own mental health and wellbeing. We do this by giving them tools to help them support us when we are unwell but also focusing on looking after themselves as well.

Mental health doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom and we reflect this in the style of our sessions by making them fun, enjoyable and informative. Reachout Project is now funded by donations given to us by the organisations we provide training to. We all continue to go along on a voluntary basis and each and every one of us knows the worth of these sessions and some will say by taking part it is helping their journey of recovery.

Anyone interested in finding out a bit more about getting involved or would like us to deliver a training session to your organisation please drop me a line and we’ll arrange to have a chat.

Barbra Davison, Project Lead Hear Us Orchard House, 15a Purley Road, South Croydon, CR2 6EZ

Tel: 020 8681 6888 Mobile: 07749 156 828 Email: reachout@hear-us.org Webpage: www.hear-us.org/reachout

Barbra Davison Reachout Led

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During the financial year of 2021-2022, a lot of my time was focused on managing the project to deliver AQS accreditation for the Welfare Surgeries Project. AQS stands for Advice Quality Standard and is an industry standard accreditation for casework and advice for welfare benefits. This meant developing 105 policies, procedures and forms to comply with the AQS standard and deploy and embed AQS in the work of Hear Us and

the Welfare Surgeries Project. We successfully achieved the AQS accreditation in July 2022 after over a year of intensive work to redesign our policies and the way in which we work with clients. This was also a prerequisite for year 2 and 3 funding by City Bridge for the Welfare Surgeries Project. A huge achievement by all especially Tim, Claire and David.

AQS took up over 80% of my time this year but there were other important areas of work during this year.

We successfully achieved funding from Lloyds Foundation primarily to fund our development and fundraising work. Along with a large grant from Lloyds we also were gifted consultancy from Lloyds to develop Hear Us further. We have been working with Julia Worthington of Amber Consultancy to review our fundraising strategy and practice and out of this we have developed a new role of a Fundraising Coordinator to work with me to develop corporate fundraising, our donor base and a new Friends of Hear Us membership scheme. This new role will be advertised for recruitment in September

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  1. We will be starting work with Anna Grey of Cornish and Grey later this month on reviewing and developing our monitoring and evaluation processes within Hear Us which will enable us to report to our funders more effectively and help us to identify what we are doing well and what needs improvement. We are now evaluating other options for consultancy and looking at our future direction of travel for the development of Hear Us into the next 3 to 5 years.

Our work in 2022-2023 will focus on maintaining our AQS accreditation, developing our vision for the future and identifying funders to support Hear Us in the next phase of our development.

Eleanor Yates Fundraiser and Development Manager Hear Us, Orchard House 15a Purley Road, South Croydon Surrey, CR2 6EZ

Tel: 020 8681 6888 Email: eleanor@hear-us.org Webpage: www.hear-us.org/donate

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Funder Service Grant Period
South West London ICS Core Project Apr 21 - Mac 22
Maudsley C&C Surgeries Oct 20 - Sept 21
Co-Op Stores Open Forum Oct 20 - Sept 21
City Bridge Surgeries Apr 21 - Mar 24
London Community Foundation Hear Us Guide Apr 21 - Mar 22
National Lottery Surgeries Jan 22 - Mar 25
Lloyds Foundation Development Sept 21 - Aug 23
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Extracts of Hear Us Annual Accounts 21-22

Current assets 2022 2021
Debtors £244 £226
Cash at bank and in hand £201,864 £138,043
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year £1,796 £1,682
Net assets £200,312 £136,587
Funds of the charity £92,242 £116,769
Restricted funds £31,366 £ 7,600
Unrestricted funds £168,946 £128,987
Total Charity funds £200,312 £136,587

HEAR US CROYDON FUNDERS 2021/22

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CROYDON EAGLES MENTAL HEALTH FOOTBALL TEAM

Hear Us would like to welcome you to our mental health football practice sessions. Please feel free to join us on Wednesday afternoons at Crystal Palace Sports Centre. A chance to improve your fitness, both mentally and physically. Meet new people, have a kick about, and have some fun.

If you use Croydon’s Mental Health Services and are over 18, you are very welcome to join us. We also play in mental health league. Tel: 02086816888 or email us at croydon.eagles@hear-us.org

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Equal Ops Monitoring
Ethnicity Total %
Equal Ops Monitoring: These
African 43 2.2%
tables show the number of
people that Hear Us have Any other Asian background 19 1.0%
supported over period April Any other Black Background 14 0.7%
2020 to March 2021 Any other Mixed background 5 0.3%
Any Other White background 12 0.6%
The sections marked Any Other Ethnic Group 21 1.1%
‘Linkwork’ are people who Asian 12 0.6%
we came into contact with
Black British 172 8.7%
on our Linkworking Project;
Caribbean 62 3.1%
all 445 service sues where
Chinese 1 0.1%
not asked to provide us with
Indian 20 1.0%
the equal ops data, which
Irish 10 0.5%
we will start gathering once
Not Answered 28 1.4%
we go back to face-to-face
contact on wards at the Not Gathered 123 6.2%
Bethlem Royal Hospital Pakistani 3 0.2%
and Community Services at Prefer not to say 51 2.6%
Jeanette Wallace House and White and Asian 9 0.5%
Queens Resource Centre. White and Black African 6 0.3%
White and Black Caribbean 80 4.1%
Due to the COVID 19
White and Chinese 1 0.1%
pandemic Hear Us continued
White British 675 34.3%
to provide our services and
British 158 8.0%
our support mostly remotely.
Linkworking Service Users 445 22.6%
Annually over the past years
Grand Total 1970 100%
we normally would provide
support to around 4500 AGE GROUP Total %
people but the pandemic 16 - 18 3 0.2%
over the past 2 years has
18 - 20 16 0.8%
restricted our services.
21 - 30 92 4.7%
31 - 40 160 8.1%
41 - 50 332 16.9%
51 - 60 481 24.4%
61 - 70 107 5.4%
71+ 17 0.9%
Not Gathered 214 10.9%
Not Answered 33 1.7%
Prefer Not to Say 70 3.6%
Linkworking Service Users 445 22.6%
Total 1970 100%
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The sections marked ‘Linkwork’ are people who we came into contact with on our Linkworking Project; all 445 service sues where not asked to provide us with the equal ops data, which we will start gathering once we go back to face-to-face contact on wards at the Bethlem Royal Hospital and Community Services at Jeanette Wallace House and Queens Resource Centre. Due to the COVID 19 pandemic Hear Us continued to provide our services and our support mostly remotely. Annually over the past years we normally would provide support to around 4500 people but the pandemic over the past 2 years has restricted our services.

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MARITAL STATUS Total % DISABILITY Total %
Couple 36 1.8% Both Mental Health &
530 26.9%
Divorced 101 5.1% Physical Disability
Married 44 2.2% Mental Health Disability 821 41.7%
Not Answered 237 12.0% Neither 8 0.4%
Not Known 165 8.4% Not Answered 132 6.7%
Prefer not to say 51 2.6% Physical Disability 30 1.5%
Separted 46 2.3% Prefer not to say 4 0.2%
Single 832 42.2% Linkworking 445 22.6%
Widowed 13 0.7% Grand Total 1970 100%
Linkworking 445 22.6%
RELIGION Total %
Grand Total 1970 100%
Catholic 29 1.5%
ACCOMODATION Total % Christian 194 9.8%
Care Home 5 0.3% Hindu 1 0.1%
Council Rent 300 15.2% Jewish 2 0.1%
Homeless 1 0.1% Methodist Anglican 5 0.3%
Hostel 1 0.1% Muslim 7 0.4%
Housing Association 302 15.3% No religion 112 5.7%
Lives with Family 70 3.6% Not Answered 327 16.6%
Morgaged/Owned 59 3.0% Not Known 736 37.4%
Not Answered 246 12.5% Other 39 2.0%
Not Known 200 10.2% Prefer not to say 29 1.5%
Prefer not to say 69 3.5% Protestant 5 0.3%
Private Rent 135 6.9% Rastafarian 39 2.0%
Shared Housing 2 0.1% Linkworking 445 22.6%
Sofa surfing 5 0.3% Grand Total 1970 100.0%
Supported Housing 49 2.5%
SEXUALITY Total %
Temparory 58 2.9%
Bisexual 8 0.4%
Tempory Association 23 1.2%
Heterosexual 1044 53.0%
Linkworking 445 22.6%
Homosexual 24 1.2%
Grand Total 1970 100%
Lesbian 50 2.5%
GENDER Total %
Not Known 61 3.1%
Female 899 45.6%
Not Gathered 210 10.7%
Male 606 30.8%
Pan-Sexual 1 0.1%
Not Stated 16 0.8%
Prefer not to say 127 6.4%
Prefer Not to Say 1 0.1%
Linkworking 445 22.6%
Transgender 3 0.2%
Grand Total 1970 100.0%
Linkworking 445 22.6%
Grand Total 1970 100%
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BECOME A MEMBER OF HEAR US

We provide a wide range of information about local and national services and up and coming issues that concern users of mental health services in Croydon. Support Hear Us and get involved in the work Hear Us does in all sorts of ways. There’s no pressure to do anything, but if you are keen to take action we’ll support you every step of the way. Potential opportunities include:

Supporting Hear Us is suitable for people with a mental illness, parents or carers and professionals living or working in the London Borough of Croydon. You’ll receive regular invites to our events exactly how you wish to receive them, either through regular mail or email.... You choose.

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BECOME A MEMBER OF HEAR US

I am a resident in London Borough of Croydon Have a recognisable interest in mental health service user issues in Croydon

Have had emotional, or psychological problems, or, some form of mental illness

Name:

Address:

Tel:

Email:

Age & DOB:

Gender:

Marital Status: Sexuality:

Ethnicity:

Religion:

Disability:

Please tick how you wish to receive correspondence Post Email Phone Mobile Text

Hear Us will not use the information you provide for anything other than distribution of invitations to meetings.

I would like to become a member of Hear Us, and to receive information about local mental health services Please read the form thoroughly and check that the information you have provided is correct before signing.

Signature:

Working Together for Change and Better Understanding in Mental Health Working Together for Change and Better Understanding in Mental Health 2525

Hear Us Orchard House, 15a Purley Road South Croydon CR2 6EZ

020 8681 6888 info@hear-us.org www.hear-us.org www.guide-hear-us.org

COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 06891337 CHARITY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 1135535

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee Unaudited Financial Statements

31 March 2022

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Financial Statements

Year ended 31 March 2022

Page
Trustees' annual report (incorporating the director's report) 1
Independent examiner's report to the trustees 4
Statement of financial activities (including income and
expenditure account) 6
Statement of financial position 7
Notes to the financial statements 9

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Trustees' Annual Report (Incorporating the Director's Report)

Year ended 31 March 2022

The trustees, who are also the directors for the purposes of company law, present their report and the unaudited financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2022.

Reference and administrative details

Registered charity name Hear Us Charity registration number 1135535 Company registration number 06891337 Principal office and registered Orchard House, office 15a Purley Road, South Croydon CR2 6EZ

The trustees

Ruth Govan Cassandra Austin Abeline Greene Jonathan Weller Josh Baker-Mendoza Mr Niall Mcveigh (Appointed 23 December 2021) Mrs Jacqueline Ashton (Appointed 23 December 2021) Angela Mitchell (Retired 23 December 2021) Karen Grayson (Retired 23 December 2021)

Company secretary

Accountants

Abeline Greene

Axis Accountants Ltd T/as Mitchell Rodrigues & Co Chartered accountant Suite 14, Zeal House, 8, Deer Park Road London SW19 3GY

- 1 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Trustees' Annual Report (Incorporating the Director's Report) (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

Structure, governance and management

Formation

Hear Us has been running since 4th October 2001 as a not for profit organisation in Croydon and on 15th April 2010 the Management Committee registered Hear Us with the Charity Commission for charity status (No. 1135535) to give Hear Us a more independent and stronger voice in the community.

Management

The constitution in the original form was adopted by resolution at the AGM held on the 27th May 2004. Amendments to the constitution were adopted by resolution at the EGM held on 1st July 2008.

The Management Committee are the Board of Trustees and are listed above. They include a Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer and the Chief Executive Officer Tim Oldham. The Committee has the power to co-opt members as and when they deem it necessary. The Board of Trustees are responsible for the day to day running of Hear Us and have a responsibility to report to the funders, charity commission and other stakeholders whenever the need arises.

Objectives and activities

The objectives of Hear Us are:

To relieve the needs of people living in the London Borough of Croydon and surrounding areas who have mental health problems by provision of services and advice.

To advance education about mental health for public benefit in the London Borough of Croydon and surrounding areas with the object of creating awareness and reducing the stigma attached to mental health.

Achievements and performance

Hear Us Senior Management Team work hard achieved accreditation from Advice Quality Standard (AQS) for our Welfare Surgeries Project whilst brining in new funding from City Bridge and the National Lottery to help expand our projects – we are now able to support more service users to claim and maintain their benefit claims.

- 2 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Trustees' Annual Report (Incorporating the Director's Report) (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

Financial review

Reserves Policy

Hear Us endeavours to maintain reserves equivalent to a minimum of 6 months costs at all times. For the financial year 2022/23 this will be approximately £120,000. These should be held in bank accounts with easy withdrawal facilities.

Risk Management

The Board of Trustees have identified and reviewed the major risks facing Hear Us and systems have been established to mitigate them. Lack of financial resources to cover expenditure is recognised as the main concern, together with the need to protect our reputation and ensure that all regulatory requirements are adhered to. Measures to reduce risk in these areas include:

Review of the Service Level Agreement with Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). Annual Review of events. Regular Committee meetings including Financial Report (current & projected, Charity Chief Executive Officer Reports and a review of fundraising activities. Formation of a fundraising committee who are required to report on all plans and activities to the Board of Trustees. Regular liaison with officers of the Croydon Clinical Commissioning Group. Continuation of staff training programmes.

Small company provisions

This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies entitled to the small companies exemption. The trustees' annual report was approved on 28/10/2022 and signed on behalf of the board of trustees by:

Jacqueline Ashton Trustee

Abeline Greene

Charity Secretary

- 3 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Hear Us

Year ended 31 March 2022

I report on the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022, which comprise the statement of financial activities (including income and expenditure account), statement of financial position, statement of cash flows and the related notes.

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 financial statements. 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. The charity's gross income exceeded £250,000 and I am qualified to undertake the examination by being a qualified member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

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:

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 next statement.

- 4 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Hear Us (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

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:

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

AXIS ACCOUNTANTS LTD Chartered Certified Accountants

Suite 14, Zeal House, 8, Deer Park Road London SW19 3GY

- 5 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Statement of Financial Activities (including income and expenditure account)

31 March 2022

31 March 2022
2022 2021
Unrestricted Restricted
funds funds Total funds Total funds
Note £ £ £ £
Income and endowments
Donations and legacies 5 140,658 104,071 244,729 191,528
───────── ───────── ───────── ─────────
Total income 140,658 104,071 244,729 191,528
═════════ ═════════ ═════════ ═════════
Expenditure
Expenditure on charitable activities 6,7 (98,829) (80,306) (179,134) (145,977)
Other expenditure 8 (1,870) (1,870) (1,206)
───────── ───────── ───────── ─────────
Total expenditure (100,699) (80,306) (181,004) (147,183)
═════════ ═════════ ═════════ ═════════
───────── ───────── ───────── ─────────
Net income and net movement in funds 39,959 23,765 63,725 44,345
═════════ ═════════ ═════════ ═════════
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward 128,987 7,600 136,587 92,242
───────── ───────── ───────── ─────────
Total funds carried forward 168,946 31,365 200,311 136,587
═════════ ═════════ ═════════ ═════════

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

The notes on pages 9 to 14 form part of these financial statements.

- 6 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Statement of Financial Position

31 March 2022

2022 2021
£ £ £
Current assets
Debtors 13 244 226
Cash at bank and in hand 201,864 138,043
───────── ─────────
202,108 138,269
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 14 1,796 1,682
───────── ─────────
Net current assets 200,312 136,587
───────── ─────────
Total assets less current liabilities 200,312 136,587
───────── ─────────
Net assets 200,312 136,587
═════════ ═════════
Funds of the charity
Restricted funds 31,366 7,600
Unrestricted funds 168,946 128,987
───────── ─────────
Total unrestricted funds 168,946 128,987
───────── ─────────
Total charity funds 15 200,312 136,587
═════════ ═════════

For the year ending 31 March 2022 the charity was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

Trustees responsibilities:

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

These financial statements were approved by the board of trustees and authorised for issue on 22/10/2022 and are signed on behalf of the board by:

Jacqueline Ashton Trustee

COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 06891337

The notes on pages 9 to 14 form part of these financial statements.

- 7 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Statement of Cash Flows

Year ended 31 March 2022

2022 2021
£ £
Cash flows from operating activities
Net income 63,725 46,335
Adjustments for:
Depreciation of tangible fixed assets 663
Interest payable and similar charges 14,283 7,923
Accrued expenses 114 384
Changes in:
Trade and other debtors (18)
──────── ────────
Cash generated from operations 78,104 55,305
Interest paid (14,283) (7,923)
──────── ────────
Net cash from operating activities 63,821 47,382
════════ ════════
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of tangible assets (2,653)
──────── ────────
Net cash used in investing activities (2,653)
════════ ════════
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents 63,821 44,729
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year 138,043 93,314
───────── ─────────
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year 201,864 138,043
═════════ ═════════

The notes on pages 9 to 14 form part of these financial statements.

- 8 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year ended 31 March 2022

1. General information

The charity is a private company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales and a registered charity in England and Wales. The address of the registered office is Orchard House,, 15a Purley Road,, South Croydon, CR2 6EZ.

2. Statement of compliance

These financial statements have been prepared in compliance with FRS 102, 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and the Republic of Ireland', 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) (Charities SORP (FRS 102)) and the Charities Act 2011.

3. Accounting policies

Hear Us was commissioned to contribute to the fulfilment of the Sustainable Community Strategy aim of the London Borough of Croydon, to involve service users in the assessment of need, planning, selection of providers and monitoring of services. All material incoming resources from this service level agreement between Hear Us as the provider and Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) as the Commissioner, have been included in the Statement of Financial Activities when the charity is entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy.

Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared on the historical cost basis, as modified by the revaluation of certain financial assets and liabilities and investment properties measured at fair value through income or expenditure.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the entity.

Going concern

There are no material uncertainties about the charity's ability to continue.

Foreign currencies

Foreign currency transactions are initially recorded in the functional currency, by applying the spot exchange rate as at the date of the transaction. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated at the exchange rate ruling at the reporting date, with any gains or losses being taken to the statement of financial activities.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees to further any of the charity's purposes.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular future project or commitment.

Restricted funds are subjected to restrictions on their expenditure declared by the donor or through the terms of an appeal, and fall into one of two sub-classes: restricted income funds or endowment funds.

- 9 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

3. Accounting policies (continued)

Incoming resources

All incoming resources are included in the statement of financial activities when entitlement has passed to the charity; it is probable that the economic benefits associated with the transaction will flow to the charity and the amount can be reliably measured. The following specific policies are applied to particular categories of income:

Resources expended

Expenditure is recognised on an accruals basis as a liability is incurred. Expenditure includes any VAT which cannot be fully recovered, and is classified under headings of the statement of financial activities to which it relates:

All costs are allocated to expenditure categories reflecting the use of the resource. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs are apportioned between the activities they contribute to on a reasonable, justifiable and consistent basis.

Depreciation

Depreciation is calculated so as to write off the cost or valuation of an asset, less its residual value, over the useful economic life of that asset as follows:

- 10 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

4. Limited by guarantee

The charity is also registered with Companies House as a private company limited by Guarantee without share capital

5. Donations and legacies

Unrestricted Restricted Total Funds
Funds Funds 2022
£ £ £
Donations
Donations 6,721 6,721
Grants
Maudsley Trust 184 13,100 13,284
Reach Out Challenge 1,400 1,400
SLA 106,999 106,999
City Bridge 36,000 36,000
Covid-19: London Community Fund: Welfare
surgeries 20,768 20,768
Covid -19: The National Lottery 34,203 34,203
Sponsorship
Croydon Eagles: 5 Float Head at Office 354 354
Grants:5 Lloyds Foundation 25,000 25,000
───────── ───────── ─────────
140,658 104,071 244,729
═════════ ═════════ ═════════
Unrestricted Restricted Total Funds
Funds Funds 2021
£ £ £
Donations
Donations 1,088 1,088
Grants
Maudsley Trust 12,490 12,490
Reach Out Challenge
SLA 121,188 121,188
City Bridge 12,000 12,000
Covid-19: London Community Fund: Welfare
surgeries 16,479 16,479
Covid -19: The National Lottery 28,283 28,283
Sponsorship
Croydon Eagles: 5 Float Head at Office
Grants:5 Lloyds Foundation
───────── ──────── ─────────
122,276 69,252 191,528
═════════ ════════ ═════════

- 11 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

6. Expenditure on charitable activities by fund type

Unrestricted Restricted Total Funds
Funds Funds 2022
£ £ £
Travel & Subsistence 17 17
Open Forum
Linkworking 30,632 30,632
Welfare Surgery 217 58,915 59,132
Support costs 67,963 21,391 89,353
──────── ──────── ─────────
98,829 80,306 179,134
════════ ════════ ═════════
Unrestricted Restricted Total Funds
Funds Funds 2021
£ £ £
Travel & Subsistence 9 9
Open Forum 287 287
Linkworking 28,145 28,145
Welfare Surgery 58,999 61,652
Support costs 56,547 55,884
──────── ──────── ─────────
84,988 58,999 145,977
════════ ════════ ═════════

7. Expenditure on charitable activities by activity type

Activities
undertaken
Grant funding
Total funds Total fund
directly
of activities
Support costs 2022 2021
£ £ £ £ £
Travel & Subsistence 17

17 9
Open Forum

287
Linkworking 30,632

30,632 28,145
In Our Shoes

2,297
2,297
Welfare Surgery 59,063
69

59,132 61,652
Governance costs

82,536
82,536 55,884
────────
────

────────
───────── ─────────
89,712
69

84,833
174,614 145,977
════════
════

════════
═════════ ═════════

8. Other expenditure

Unrestricted Total Funds Unrestricted Total Funds
Funds 2022 Funds 2021
£ £ £ £
Sundries 53 53 198 198
Christmas social 970 970 560 560
Staff Welfare 768 768 136 136
Subscriptions 79 79 312 312
─────── ─────── ─────── ───────
1,870 1,870 1,206 1,206
═══════ ═══════ ═══════ ═══════

- 12 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

9. Net income

Net income is stated after charging/(crediting):

Net income is stated after charging/(crediting):
2022 2021
£ £
Operating lease rentals 7,973 2,317
═══════ ═══════

10. Independent examination fees

2022 2021
£ £
Fees payable to the independent examiner for:
Independent examination of the financial statements 1,494
═══════
1,380
═══════

11. Staff costs

The total staff costs and employee benefits for the reporting period are analysed as The total staff costs and employee benefits for the reporting period are analysed as follows:
2022 2021
£ £
Wages and salaries 88,056 70,776
Social security costs 605 435
Employer contributions to pension plans 1,963 999
Other employee benefits 7,365 1,252
──────── ────────
97,989 73,462
════════ ════════

The average head count of employees during the year was 8 (2021: 8).

No employee received employee benefits of more than £60,000 during the year (2021: Nil).

12. Trustee remuneration and expenses

No remuneration or other benefits from employment with the charity or a related entity were received by the trustees.

- 14 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

13. Debtors

2022 2021
£ £
Trade debtors 79 79
Other debtors 165 147
──── ────
244 226
════ ════
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
2022 2021
£ £
Other creditors 1,796 1,682
═══════ ═══════

14. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

15. Analysis of charitable funds

Unrestricted funds

Unrestricted funds
Unrestricted Fund
Restricted funds
Welfare Surgeries Project
Croydon Eagles
Deputy CEO
Hear Us Guide
Open Forum
At
1 April 2021
Income Expenditure
At
31 March 202
2
£
£
£
£
128,987
140,658
(100,699)
168,946
═════════
═════════
═════════
═════════
At
1 April 2021
Income Expenditure
At
31 March 2022
£
£
£
£
7,600
59,700
(64,879)
2,421
-
5,948
(2,249)
3,699
-
16,734
(4,310)
12,425
-
15,888
(8,868)
7,020
-
5,801
-
**5,801 **
7,600
104,071
(80,306)31,366
═══════
═════════
════════
════════

- 14 -

COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 06891337 CHARITY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 1135535

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee Unaudited Financial Statements

31 March 2022

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Financial Statements

Year ended 31 March 2022

Page
Trustees' annual report (incorporating the director's report) 1
Independent examiner's report to the trustees 4
Statement of financial activities (including income and
expenditure account) 6
Statement of financial position 7
Notes to the financial statements 9

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Trustees' Annual Report (Incorporating the Director's Report)

Year ended 31 March 2022

The trustees, who are also the directors for the purposes of company law, present their report and the unaudited financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2022.

Reference and administrative details

Registered charity name Hear Us Charity registration number 1135535 Company registration number 06891337 Principal office and registered Orchard House, office 15a Purley Road, South Croydon CR2 6EZ

The trustees

Ruth Govan Cassandra Austin Abeline Greene Jonathan Weller Josh Baker-Mendoza Mr Niall Mcveigh (Appointed 23 December 2021) Mrs Jacqueline Ashton (Appointed 23 December 2021) Angela Mitchell (Retired 23 December 2021) Karen Grayson (Retired 23 December 2021)

Company secretary

Accountants

Abeline Greene

Axis Accountants Ltd T/as Mitchell Rodrigues & Co Chartered accountant Suite 14, Zeal House, 8, Deer Park Road London SW19 3GY

- 1 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Trustees' Annual Report (Incorporating the Director's Report) (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

Structure, governance and management

Formation

Hear Us has been running since 4th October 2001 as a not for profit organisation in Croydon and on 15th April 2010 the Management Committee registered Hear Us with the Charity Commission for charity status (No. 1135535) to give Hear Us a more independent and stronger voice in the community.

Management

The constitution in the original form was adopted by resolution at the AGM held on the 27th May 2004. Amendments to the constitution were adopted by resolution at the EGM held on 1st July 2008.

The Management Committee are the Board of Trustees and are listed above. They include a Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer and the Chief Executive Officer Tim Oldham. The Committee has the power to co-opt members as and when they deem it necessary. The Board of Trustees are responsible for the day to day running of Hear Us and have a responsibility to report to the funders, charity commission and other stakeholders whenever the need arises.

Objectives and activities

The objectives of Hear Us are:

To relieve the needs of people living in the London Borough of Croydon and surrounding areas who have mental health problems by provision of services and advice.

To advance education about mental health for public benefit in the London Borough of Croydon and surrounding areas with the object of creating awareness and reducing the stigma attached to mental health.

Achievements and performance

Hear Us Senior Management Team work hard achieved accreditation from Advice Quality Standard (AQS) for our Welfare Surgeries Project whilst brining in new funding from City Bridge and the National Lottery to help expand our projects – we are now able to support more service users to claim and maintain their benefit claims.

- 2 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Trustees' Annual Report (Incorporating the Director's Report) (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

Financial review

Reserves Policy

Hear Us endeavours to maintain reserves equivalent to a minimum of 6 months costs at all times. For the financial year 2022/23 this will be approximately £120,000. These should be held in bank accounts with easy withdrawal facilities.

Risk Management

The Board of Trustees have identified and reviewed the major risks facing Hear Us and systems have been established to mitigate them. Lack of financial resources to cover expenditure is recognised as the main concern, together with the need to protect our reputation and ensure that all regulatory requirements are adhered to. Measures to reduce risk in these areas include:

Review of the Service Level Agreement with Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). Annual Review of events. Regular Committee meetings including Financial Report (current & projected, Charity Chief Executive Officer Reports and a review of fundraising activities. Formation of a fundraising committee who are required to report on all plans and activities to the Board of Trustees. Regular liaison with officers of the Croydon Clinical Commissioning Group. Continuation of staff training programmes.

Small company provisions

This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies entitled to the small companies exemption. The trustees' annual report was approved on 28/10/2022 and signed on behalf of the board of trustees by:

Jacqueline Ashton Trustee

Abeline Greene

Charity Secretary

- 3 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Hear Us

Year ended 31 March 2022

I report on the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022, which comprise the statement of financial activities (including income and expenditure account), statement of financial position, statement of cash flows and the related notes.

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 financial statements. 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. The charity's gross income exceeded £250,000 and I am qualified to undertake the examination by being a qualified member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

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:

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 next statement.

- 4 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Hear Us (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

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:

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

AXIS ACCOUNTANTS LTD Chartered Certified Accountants

Suite 14, Zeal House, 8, Deer Park Road London SW19 3GY

- 5 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Statement of Financial Activities (including income and expenditure account)

31 March 2022

31 March 2022
2022 2021
Unrestricted Restricted
funds funds Total funds Total funds
Note £ £ £ £
Income and endowments
Donations and legacies 5 140,658 104,071 244,729 191,528
───────── ───────── ───────── ─────────
Total income 140,658 104,071 244,729 191,528
═════════ ═════════ ═════════ ═════════
Expenditure
Expenditure on charitable activities 6,7 (98,829) (80,306) (179,134) (145,977)
Other expenditure 8 (1,870) (1,870) (1,206)
───────── ───────── ───────── ─────────
Total expenditure (100,699) (80,306) (181,004) (147,183)
═════════ ═════════ ═════════ ═════════
───────── ───────── ───────── ─────────
Net income and net movement in funds 39,959 23,765 63,725 44,345
═════════ ═════════ ═════════ ═════════
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward 128,987 7,600 136,587 92,242
───────── ───────── ───────── ─────────
Total funds carried forward 168,946 31,365 200,311 136,587
═════════ ═════════ ═════════ ═════════

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

The notes on pages 9 to 14 form part of these financial statements.

- 6 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Statement of Financial Position

31 March 2022

2022 2021
£ £ £
Current assets
Debtors 13 244 226
Cash at bank and in hand 201,864 138,043
───────── ─────────
202,108 138,269
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 14 1,796 1,682
───────── ─────────
Net current assets 200,312 136,587
───────── ─────────
Total assets less current liabilities 200,312 136,587
───────── ─────────
Net assets 200,312 136,587
═════════ ═════════
Funds of the charity
Restricted funds 31,366 7,600
Unrestricted funds 168,946 128,987
───────── ─────────
Total unrestricted funds 168,946 128,987
───────── ─────────
Total charity funds 15 200,312 136,587
═════════ ═════════

For the year ending 31 March 2022 the charity was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

Trustees responsibilities:

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

These financial statements were approved by the board of trustees and authorised for issue on 22/10/2022 and are signed on behalf of the board by:

Jacqueline Ashton Trustee

COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 06891337

The notes on pages 9 to 14 form part of these financial statements.

- 7 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Statement of Cash Flows

Year ended 31 March 2022

2022 2021
£ £
Cash flows from operating activities
Net income 63,725 46,335
Adjustments for:
Depreciation of tangible fixed assets 663
Interest payable and similar charges 14,283 7,923
Accrued expenses 114 384
Changes in:
Trade and other debtors (18)
──────── ────────
Cash generated from operations 78,104 55,305
Interest paid (14,283) (7,923)
──────── ────────
Net cash from operating activities 63,821 47,382
════════ ════════
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of tangible assets (2,653)
──────── ────────
Net cash used in investing activities (2,653)
════════ ════════
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents 63,821 44,729
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year 138,043 93,314
───────── ─────────
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year 201,864 138,043
═════════ ═════════

The notes on pages 9 to 14 form part of these financial statements.

- 8 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year ended 31 March 2022

1. General information

The charity is a private company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales and a registered charity in England and Wales. The address of the registered office is Orchard House,, 15a Purley Road,, South Croydon, CR2 6EZ.

2. Statement of compliance

These financial statements have been prepared in compliance with FRS 102, 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and the Republic of Ireland', 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) (Charities SORP (FRS 102)) and the Charities Act 2011.

3. Accounting policies

Hear Us was commissioned to contribute to the fulfilment of the Sustainable Community Strategy aim of the London Borough of Croydon, to involve service users in the assessment of need, planning, selection of providers and monitoring of services. All material incoming resources from this service level agreement between Hear Us as the provider and Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) as the Commissioner, have been included in the Statement of Financial Activities when the charity is entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy.

Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared on the historical cost basis, as modified by the revaluation of certain financial assets and liabilities and investment properties measured at fair value through income or expenditure.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the entity.

Going concern

There are no material uncertainties about the charity's ability to continue.

Foreign currencies

Foreign currency transactions are initially recorded in the functional currency, by applying the spot exchange rate as at the date of the transaction. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated at the exchange rate ruling at the reporting date, with any gains or losses being taken to the statement of financial activities.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees to further any of the charity's purposes.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular future project or commitment.

Restricted funds are subjected to restrictions on their expenditure declared by the donor or through the terms of an appeal, and fall into one of two sub-classes: restricted income funds or endowment funds.

- 9 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

3. Accounting policies (continued)

Incoming resources

All incoming resources are included in the statement of financial activities when entitlement has passed to the charity; it is probable that the economic benefits associated with the transaction will flow to the charity and the amount can be reliably measured. The following specific policies are applied to particular categories of income:

Resources expended

Expenditure is recognised on an accruals basis as a liability is incurred. Expenditure includes any VAT which cannot be fully recovered, and is classified under headings of the statement of financial activities to which it relates:

All costs are allocated to expenditure categories reflecting the use of the resource. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs are apportioned between the activities they contribute to on a reasonable, justifiable and consistent basis.

Depreciation

Depreciation is calculated so as to write off the cost or valuation of an asset, less its residual value, over the useful economic life of that asset as follows:

- 10 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

4. Limited by guarantee

The charity is also registered with Companies House as a private company limited by Guarantee without share capital

5. Donations and legacies

Unrestricted Restricted Total Funds
Funds Funds 2022
£ £ £
Donations
Donations 6,721 6,721
Grants
Maudsley Trust 184 13,100 13,284
Reach Out Challenge 1,400 1,400
SLA 106,999 106,999
City Bridge 36,000 36,000
Covid-19: London Community Fund: Welfare
surgeries 20,768 20,768
Covid -19: The National Lottery 34,203 34,203
Sponsorship
Croydon Eagles: 5 Float Head at Office 354 354
Grants:5 Lloyds Foundation 25,000 25,000
───────── ───────── ─────────
140,658 104,071 244,729
═════════ ═════════ ═════════
Unrestricted Restricted Total Funds
Funds Funds 2021
£ £ £
Donations
Donations 1,088 1,088
Grants
Maudsley Trust 12,490 12,490
Reach Out Challenge
SLA 121,188 121,188
City Bridge 12,000 12,000
Covid-19: London Community Fund: Welfare
surgeries 16,479 16,479
Covid -19: The National Lottery 28,283 28,283
Sponsorship
Croydon Eagles: 5 Float Head at Office
Grants:5 Lloyds Foundation
───────── ──────── ─────────
122,276 69,252 191,528
═════════ ════════ ═════════

- 11 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

6. Expenditure on charitable activities by fund type

Unrestricted Restricted Total Funds
Funds Funds 2022
£ £ £
Travel & Subsistence 17 17
Open Forum
Linkworking 30,632 30,632
Welfare Surgery 217 58,915 59,132
Support costs 67,963 21,391 89,353
──────── ──────── ─────────
98,829 80,306 179,134
════════ ════════ ═════════
Unrestricted Restricted Total Funds
Funds Funds 2021
£ £ £
Travel & Subsistence 9 9
Open Forum 287 287
Linkworking 28,145 28,145
Welfare Surgery 58,999 61,652
Support costs 56,547 55,884
──────── ──────── ─────────
84,988 58,999 145,977
════════ ════════ ═════════

7. Expenditure on charitable activities by activity type

Activities
undertaken
Grant funding
Total funds Total fund
directly
of activities
Support costs 2022 2021
£ £ £ £ £
Travel & Subsistence 17

17 9
Open Forum

287
Linkworking 30,632

30,632 28,145
In Our Shoes

2,297
2,297
Welfare Surgery 59,063
69

59,132 61,652
Governance costs

82,536
82,536 55,884
────────
────

────────
───────── ─────────
89,712
69

84,833
174,614 145,977
════════
════

════════
═════════ ═════════

8. Other expenditure

Unrestricted Total Funds Unrestricted Total Funds
Funds 2022 Funds 2021
£ £ £ £
Sundries 53 53 198 198
Christmas social 970 970 560 560
Staff Welfare 768 768 136 136
Subscriptions 79 79 312 312
─────── ─────── ─────── ───────
1,870 1,870 1,206 1,206
═══════ ═══════ ═══════ ═══════

- 12 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

9. Net income

Net income is stated after charging/(crediting):

Net income is stated after charging/(crediting):
2022 2021
£ £
Operating lease rentals 7,973 2,317
═══════ ═══════

10. Independent examination fees

2022 2021
£ £
Fees payable to the independent examiner for:
Independent examination of the financial statements 1,494
═══════
1,380
═══════

11. Staff costs

The total staff costs and employee benefits for the reporting period are analysed as The total staff costs and employee benefits for the reporting period are analysed as follows:
2022 2021
£ £
Wages and salaries 88,056 70,776
Social security costs 605 435
Employer contributions to pension plans 1,963 999
Other employee benefits 7,365 1,252
──────── ────────
97,989 73,462
════════ ════════

The average head count of employees during the year was 8 (2021: 8).

No employee received employee benefits of more than £60,000 during the year (2021: Nil).

12. Trustee remuneration and expenses

No remuneration or other benefits from employment with the charity or a related entity were received by the trustees.

- 14 -

Hear Us

Company Limited by Guarantee

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

13. Debtors

2022 2021
£ £
Trade debtors 79 79
Other debtors 165 147
──── ────
244 226
════ ════
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
2022 2021
£ £
Other creditors 1,796 1,682
═══════ ═══════

14. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

15. Analysis of charitable funds

Unrestricted funds

Unrestricted funds
Unrestricted Fund
Restricted funds
Welfare Surgeries Project
Croydon Eagles
Deputy CEO
Hear Us Guide
Open Forum
At
1 April 2021
Income Expenditure
At
31 March 202
2
£
£
£
£
128,987
140,658
(100,699)
168,946
═════════
═════════
═════════
═════════
At
1 April 2021
Income Expenditure
At
31 March 2022
£
£
£
£
7,600
59,700
(64,879)
2,421
-
5,948
(2,249)
3,699
-
16,734
(4,310)
12,425
-
15,888
(8,868)
7,020
-
5,801
-
**5,801 **
7,600
104,071
(80,306)31,366
═══════
═════════
════════
════════

- 14 -