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← Families And Babies (Fab)

2024-03-31-accounts

Charity number: 1136594

Families and Babies

Trustees’ report and financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

FAMILIES AND BABIES

CONTENTS

Page
Charity information 1
Trustees' report 2 - 4
Independent examiner's report 7
Statement of financial activities 8
Balance sheet 9
Statement of Cash Flows 10
Notes to the financial statements 11 - 17

FAMILIES AND BABIES

CHARITY INFORMATION FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

Trustees Elaine Edwards
Noel Edwards (Appointed 4 September 2023)
Dulani Ruwanmali Mendis Scott (Appointed 4 September 2023)
Michael Hudson
Wayne Gareth Rushton
Lorraine Carter
Lewis Waddington
Registered Charity Number 1136594
Address 222/224 Tonge Moor Road
Bolton
BL2 2HN
Independent Examiner Philip Dawson
Dawson & Co
Suite 9, Rockfield House
512 Darwen Road
Bromley
Cross Bolton
Lancashire
BL7 9DX
Bankers HSBC Bank
5 Great Underbank
Stockport
Cheshire
SK1 1LH

FAMILIES AND BABIES

The Trustees present their annual report together with the financial statements of Families and Babies (FAB) for the year ended 31 March 2024. The Trustees confirm that the annual report and financial statements of the charity comply with the Charities Act 2011, and Reporting by Charities: 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) October 2019.

Structure, governance and management

CONSTITUTION

The Charity is governed by a Trust deed dated 8[th] October 2021, the charity is in the process of updating and reviewing the document.

METHOD OF APPOINTMENT OR ELECTION OF TRUSTEES

There must be at least three Trustees. Apart from the first Trustees, every Trustee must be appointed, for a term of 4 years, by a resolution of the Trustees passed at a special meeting. In selecting individuals for appointment as Trustees, the Trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the Charity.

POLICIES ADOPTED FOR THE INDUCTION AND TRAINING OF TRUSTEES

The Charity adopts a policy where Trustees are provided with a copy of the Trust Deed and the latest accounts and annual report. Also provided are Links to the Charities Commission website which include, but are not restricted to, the Essential Trustee Guide.

Objectives and Activities

The objects of the charity are: -

  1. To advance and promote the physical and psychological health of mothers and children through the provision of support education and training regarding breastfeeding

  2. To advance the education and promote the good health of children under the age of five years, their families and carers, in particular but not exclusively by the provision of advance, support training and supporting research into healthy eating

The charity aims to support health and well-being in children and families in the UK. The charity provides peer support services offering evidence-based information and support to help improve health and well-being within families.

This year the Charity has been providing services across the country within 4 areas:

Within our commissioned areas we have service level agreements in place which set out the aims and objectives we are targeted to meet. Bolton is managed by the charity conforming to community grants and trustee leadership.

FAMILIES AND BABIES

ACTIVITIES FOR ACHIEVING OBJECTIVES

Achievements and performance

GOING CONCERN

After making appropriate enquiries, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements. Further details regarding the adoption of the going concern basis can be found in the Accounting Policies.

REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES

This is the 14[th] year as a charity providing breastfeeding peer support to mothers and their families and our team of staff and volunteers continue to show passion and dedication to their roles. We have maintained our support services across all our commissioned areas this year and have seen both staff and volunteer teams grow bigger increasing our FAB family.

All staff across the charity have once again completed the NHS Data Protection training in addition to breastfeeding update training and safeguarding training to ensure we offer the best possible support to families.

FAB has continued to offer a digital service as we recognise that parents may still feel uncertain about mixing with others with small babies and also that there are other reasons for not accessing face to face support.

Our management team have worked hard to increase the visibility of FAB over the past 12 months and to explore new income streams in order to increase the level of support we are able to offer. Our online antenatal course was developed and has been rolled out in our commissioned areas and beyond.

Overview of our commissioned areas

2023-2024 FAB are proud of the passion and dedication shown by all our staff and volunteers and would like to thank every one of them for the ongoing support they have provided to new families. In recognition of this FAB were able to fund several places at the UNICEF conference.

Dorset

We have continued to develop and strengthen our online presence through both Facebook and Instagram. Our closed Facebook group now has over 2600 members and is a source of both practical breastfeeding support and social interactions for families. With the increased numbers accessing face to face support, we decided to lessen Facebook Room availability, now offering this service three mornings a week instead of five. We do still have families using this option for support alongside our face-to-face support.

It is FAB Dorset’s aim to be able to support and celebrate all aspects of breastfeeding, through our network of groups or our social gatherings and celebrations for families.

Over the past 12 months we sadly had to make two members of staff redundant due to financial constraints, and no longer having the contract with Dorset Council.

We currently have 35 active peers and 3 Meet and Greet Volunteer. Thirteen volunteers completed training in 2023-2024.

Many of these volunteers are supporting at face-to-face groups each week as well as through the closed Facebook support group.

There are currently a further 5 volunteers interested in training to support with FAB Dorset

Wakefield

This year FAB has continued to support mums in Wakefield with 1420 breastfeeding women being supported by the service. Since Covid restrictions were lifted we have been supporting mums 1-1 in home visits, 592

FAMILIES AND BABIES

families have received a total of 752 home visits. We have been working hard on the maternity ward, running 6 groups a week, and running the helpline with the help of our volunteers.

We have received 862 out of hours calls to our 24-hour helpline this year, where per supporters and volunteers are able to provide immediate support and information with the added benefit of being able to follow up support the following day

We are also pleased to announce our contract at Pinderfields has been renewed for another 12 months, enabling us to provide support in the first hours following birth to help get breastfeeding off to a good start.

This has had a positive impact on the community support we provide as mums have an introduction to the service alongside intensive breastfeeding support before they leave hospital and often need less intense support once home.

Wakefield worked in partnership with Wonderful Chaos Photography to produce a naked back to nature breastfeeding calendar

We have also recruited a new Branch manger for Wakefield who started in January 2024 and was one of our service users who started as a volunteer

We also now have a member of the Wakefield team who was appointed as our Community and Family Hub Network Lead for UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative which is a fantastic opportunity for FAB and all our teams

We have welcomed 12 newly trained breastfeeding supporters to the team and also recruited a business administration apprentice.

Staff and volunteers have completed all mandatory training modules, in addition to the mandatory modules peer supporters have completed ICON training.

12 new volunteer peer supporters have completed their training in order to be able to support new mums on the helpline and at groups.

Throughout the year we were incredibly lucky to have a team of dedicated volunteers who committed to the helpline and some of our groups offering extra support and a friendly ear, mums found it useful to have extra time to chat.

Lancashire

Sadly, this is our last year in Lancashire as unfortunately after supporting families across Lancashire for the last 17 years and overachieving in all our target areas we were not successfully in obtaining the tender for the next 5 years

FAB Lancashire is proud to have worked closely with our infant feeding colleagues in the community to contribute to the area retaining the UNICEF Breastfeeding Friendly Initiative Gold Standard. All our teams have annual audits and monthly training to ensure they are giving the correct information to mums and their wider families

We have recruited 12 new volunteers, who are currently volunteering in a variety of ways including breastfeeding support groups, helpline calls and on our 5 hospital wards.

We currently have 12 breastfeeding support groups running across the area and are looking to expand this year. We work very closely with the Community Infant Feeding Team, which gives mums extra support should they need it.

Lancashire have taken 6137 helpline calls this year which equates to 275 hours of breastfeeding support, which would not be possible without the support of our volunteers

FAMILIES AND BABIES

Our social media has continued to grow, allowing us to support more families. We have built up an amazing 4699 followers over all our platforms

FAB are extremely sad to see this service in Lancashire go, the majority of the staff were able to TUPE over to the new service but sadly there was redundancies from staff who could not fulfill the contract of the new service

Bolton

We have been chosen as one of the charities of the year from Turton Rotary, this is great news and we were able to raise £500 in ticket sales for the annual duck race.

We made links with Birtenshaw Collage who ran a six months project placing their students with additional complex needs with us to help them gain valuable life skills. We had 6 volunteers over the period each with different complex needs and they really enjoyed their time with us.

We started our breastfeeding group at Tonge Cricket Club, the attendance was not great but we generally had a round 3 mums per week

In August and September we offered all our various school uniform free to those in need, we had 48 customers take up this offer and we gave away 160 items of school uniform

September saw the launch of another community support group in Little Lever Library

In January 24 we started our warm space in the charity shop, this was extremely well attended with around 6-7 people attending each week

We started to work with Nacro offering their students work experience to compliment their collage course, this was a great success and will be starting again in January 2025

Bolton shop had a good year with over 9736 transactions and 21,634 items sold at affordable prices to help the community we serve

FAB Merchandise

We have continued to increase sales of our online merchandise and have added online training courses as an additional way of bringing in funding. Our peer supporter training and online antenatal courses are proving very popular and we hope to continue adding new opportunities to our website. We will be looking to increase the number of courses that we can offer both parents and businesses in the coming year

Training Program

We've had a great year with the FAB training programme this year. We have trained a total of 65 people as FAB Peer Supporters, this has included volunteers in Lancashire, Wakefield and Dorset as well as 6 new members of the FAB Team. We trained a further 14 Peer Supporters through our partnership working with Defence and a further 3 Peer Supporters who self-funded their training. Deb has worked with 4 Peer Supporters to offer update training through skills and knowledge audits.

Finally alongside the Peer Support training programme we are also rolling out a programme of ongoing

update training for all staff and volunteers. This has included further training in the use of the ARDO breast pumps. Updates to the information around the microbiome and breastfeeding and the environment and finally further training to support with perinatal mental health.

FAMILIES AND BABIES

Partnership Working

We have maintained a strong relationship with the Defence Breastfeeding Network and have so far trained another 11 women as peer supporters with the aim of facilitating FAB breastfeeding groups on military bases across the country. The training of servicewomen has the added benefit of giving them the tools to support breastfeeding women when they are deployed on humanitarian work overseas.

The Trustees have reviewed the major risks faced by the Charity and have put plans in place to mitigate these risks.

Financial review

The financial statements show net incoming resources for the year of £15,704 (2023 £43,943).

PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES

We currently have two commissioned services in FAB, and we are looking at ways to self-sustain the charity so we will be in a position to carry on supporting families

RESERVES POLICY

Free reserves as at 31 March 2024 were £316,435. The Charity is in the process of reviewing the reserves policy to ensure that there are sufficient funds in place to ensure that the Charity is sustainable.

FUTURE PLANS

The Charity plans to continue developing services to continue to support Families. We are also looking at improving our current website and training site to help bring in more funds to sustain the charity. We are looking to introduce a membership scheme for both families and businesses which will bring in unrestricted income for the charity to be able to support more families

PUBLIC BENEFIT

We confirm that we have complied with our duty to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant

This report was approved by the Trustees on 27[th] November 2024 and signed on their behalf by:

Elaine Edwards

Chair of Trustees

FAMILIES AND BABIES

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2024 which are set out on pages 8 to 17.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity’s trustees 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 carried out under section 145 of the Act and 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

Since the charity’s gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the Act. I confirm that our staff are qualified to undertake the examination as qualified under the Association of Accounting Technicians.

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

  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; or

  3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view’ which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

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.

………………………………… Philip Dawson Dawson & Co Accountants Bolton

27[th] November 2024 Date

FAMILIES AND BABIES

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

Note
INCOME FROM
2
Charitable activities
Other trading activities
Other income
TOTAL INCOME
EXPENDITURE ON
Raising funds
3
Charitable activities
4
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
5
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS
Total funds at 1 April 2023
TOTAL FUNDS AT 31 MARCH 2024		 Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
Total
funds
Total
funds
2024
£
2024
£
2024
£
2023
£
773,214
-
773,214
670,721
30,054
-
30,054
105,215
3,000
-
3,000
775
806,268
-
806,268
776,711
41,688
-
41,688
41,289
748,876
-
748,876
691,479
790,564
-
790,564
732,768


15,704
-
15,704
43,943
312,849
-
312,849
268,906
328,553
328,553
312,849

All income and expenditure in the previous year related to unrestricted funds.

The notes on pages 11 to 17 form part of these financial statements.

FAMILIES AND BABIES

BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 MARCH 2024

2024 2023
Note £ £ £ £
FIXED ASSETS
Tangible fixed assets 8 12,118 15,296
CURRENT ASSETS
Debtors 9 19,527 20,024
Cash in hand 344,534 324,412
364,061 344,439
CREDITORS:amounts falling due within
one year 10 (47,626) (46,883)
NET CURRENT ASSETS 316,435 297,553
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT
LIABILITIES		 328,553 312,849
328,553 312,849
CHARITY FUNDS
Unrestricted funds 11 328,553 312,849
Restricted funds - -
TOTAL FUNDS/(DEFICIT) 328,553 312,849

The financial statements were approved by the Trustees on 27[th] November 2024 and signed on their behalf, by:

Elaine Edwards

Michael Hudson

All assets and liabilities relate to unrestricted funds.

The notes on pages 11 to 17 form part of these financial statements.

FAMILIES AND BABIES

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

Cash flows from operating activities
Net income/(expenditure) for the year
Depreciation
Decrease/(Increase) in debtors
(Decrease)/Increase in creditors
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from operating
activities
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of fixed assets
Net cash used in investing activities
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents in the
reporting period
Cash and cash equivalents at 1 April 2023
Cash and cash equivalents at 31 March 2024		 2024
£
15,704
3,178
497
743
20,122
-
-
20,122
324,412
344,534		 2023
£
43,943
4,028
1
(5,271)
42,701
-
-
42,701
281,711
324,412

FAMILIES AND BABIES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:

Basis of preparation of financial statements

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: 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)(October 2019), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and the Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

Families and Babies meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note.

The accounts (financial statements) have been prepared to give a ‘true and fair’ view and have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a ‘true and fair’ view. This departure has involved following the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: 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) rather than the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice effective from 1 April 2005 which has since been withdrawn.

Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis

The trustees assess whether the use of going concern is appropriate, ie whether there are any material uncertainties related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the charity to continue as a going concern. The trustees make this assessment in respect of a period of at least one year from the date of authorisation for issue of the accounts. The trustees have concluded that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future and there are no material uncertainties about the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern. Thus they continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the accounts.

Fund accounting

General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes.

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the charity for particular purposes. The costs of raising and administering such funds are charged against the specific fund.

Incoming resources

These are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) when:

FAMILIES AND BABIES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Continued)

Incoming resources with related expenditure

Where incoming resources have related expenditure (as with fundraising or contract income) the incoming resources and related expenditure are reported gross in the SOFA.

Grants and Donations

Grants and donations are only included in the SOFA when the charity has unconditional entitlement to the resources.

Tax reclaims on donations and gifts

Incoming resources from tax reclaims are included in the SoFA at the same time as the gift to which they relate.

Contractual income and performance related grants

This is included in the SoFA once the related goods or services have been delivered.

Gifts in Kind

Gifts in kind are accounted for at a reasonable estimate of their value to the charity or the amount actually realised.

Gifts in kind for sale or distribution are included in the accounts as gifts only when sold or distributed by the charity.

Gifts in kind for use by the charity are included in the SoFA as incoming resources when receivable.

Donated services and facilities

These are only included in incoming resources {with an equivalent amount in resources expended) where the benefit to the charity is reasonably quantifiable, measurable and material. The value placed on these resources is the estimated value to the charity of the service or facility received.

Volunteer help

The value of any voluntary help received is not included in the accounts but is described in the trustees’ annual report

Resources expended and liabilities

Liability recognition

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

Governance costs

Include costs of the preparation and examination of statutory accounts, the costs of trustee meetings and cost of any legal advice to trustees on governance or constitutional matters.

Support costs

Support costs have been allocated to activity cost on an actual basis

Assets

Tangible fixed assets for use by charity

Tangible fixed assets are held at cost and written off over their useful economic life as follows:-

Plant and machinery - 20% reducing balance Fixtures, fittings and equipment - 20% reducing balance

FAMILIES AND BABIES

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Continued)

Leases

Rentals payable under operating leases are charged to the SoFA over the period of the lease.

Value added tax

The Charity is not registered for VAT. In these financial statements, where applicable, expenditure is shown inclusive of VAT.

Critical accounting estimates and areas of judgement

The Trustees do not consider that there are any critical accounting estimates or areas of judgement in these accounts.

2. INCOME

INCOME
Other trading activities
Shop income from
selling donated goods
Incoming resources from
charitable activities
Sale of services from
the charity’s activities
Other income
Rent received		 Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
Total
funds
Total
funds
2024
£
2024
£
2023
£
30,054
-
30,054
105,215
773,214
773,214
670,721
3,000
-
3,000
775
806,268
806,268
776,711

All income in the current and prior year is unrestricted.

3. EXPENDITURE ON RAISING FUNDS

Rent of shops and costs
Advertising costs		 Unrestricted
funds
Total
2024
Total
2023
£
£
£
39,920
39,920
39,228
1,768
1,768
2,061
41,688
41,688
41,289

All expenditure on raising funds in the current and prior year was unrestricted.

FAMILIES AND BABIES

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

4. Expenditure on charitable activities

Provision of charitable services
Administration and management
Information technology
Legal and professional fees
Management fees		 Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
Total
2024
Total
2023
£
£
£
£
633,981
-
633,981
566,439
25,075
-
25,075
21,208
5,525
-
5,525
3,534
27.367
-
27,367
41,671
56,928
-
56,928
58,627
748,876
-
748,876
691,479

All expenditure on charitable activities in the current and prior year related to unrestricted funds.

5. ANALYSIS OF RESOURCES EXPENDED

5.1 Trustee expenses

Number of trustees who were paid expenses - -
2024 2023
£ £
Nature of expenses
Travel and subsistence - -

No remuneration was paid to Trustees during the year.

6. NET INCOME

This is stated after charging:

This is stated after charging:
2024 2023
£ £
Independent examiner's remuneration 1,200 1,200
Other fees paid to the independent examiner 3,464 3,429

FAMILIES AND BABIES

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

7. STAFF COSTS

STAFF COSTS
2024 2023
£ £
Gross wages, salaries and benefits in kind 493,533 428,521
Employer’s National Insurance 17,465 16,078
Pension costs 5,711 5,427
516,709 450,026
There were no employees in the year with remuneration over £60,000.
Average number of full-time equivalent employees in the year
2024 2023
The parts of the charity in which the employees work £ £
Fundraising 10 10
Charitable Activities 23 35
33 45

There were no employees in the year with remuneration over £60,000.

Average number of full-time equivalent employees in the year

Defined contribution pension scheme

Payments are made to a defined contribution pension scheme and the pension charge represents the amounts payable to the fund in the year.


amounts payable to the fund in the year.
2024 2023
£ £
The costs of the scheme to the charity for the year 5,711 5,427

FAMILIES AND BABIES

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

8. FIXED ASSETS

Cost
1 April 2023
Additions
31 March 2024
Accumulated Depreciation
1 April 2023
Charge for year
31 March 2024

Net Book Value 31 March 2024

Net Book Value 1 April 2023		 Motor vehicles
£
19.468
-
19,468
16,941
626
17,567
1,901
2,527		 Fixtures,
fittings and
equipment
£
38,087
-
38,087
25,318
2,552
27,870
10,217
12,739		 Total
£
57,555
-
57,555
42,259
3,178
45,437
12,118
15,296
9. DEBTORS
2024 2023
£ £
Trade debtors 19,527 19,527
Other debtors - 497
19,527 20,024
10. CREDITORS:
Amounts falling due within one year
2024 2023
£ £
Trade creditors - 13,716
Other creditors 4,942 4,801
Accruals and deferred income 42,684 28,366
47,626 46,883

FAMILIES AND BABIES

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

11. STATEMENT OF FUNDS

STATEMENT OF FUNDS
Unrestricted funds
General fund
Total of funds
Year ended 31 March 2023
Unrestricted funds
General fund
Total of funds		 Brought
Forward
Incoming
resources
Resources
Expended
Carried
Forward
£
£
£
£
312,849
806,268
(790,564)
328,553
312,849
806,268
(790,564)
328,553
Brought
Forward
Incoming
resources
Resources
Expended
Carried
Forward
£
£
£
£
268,906
776,711
(732,768)
312,849
268,906
776,711
(732,768)
312,849

12. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

E Edwards and N Edwards, trustees are also directors of LA Business Services Limited. During the year the charity purchased goods and services from LA Business Services Limited totalling £33,879 (2023: £30,505).

E Edwards in also a director of FAB Consulting Limited. During the year the charity purchased services from FAB Consulting Limited totalling £56,928 (2023: £58,630)

ANNUAL REPORT 2023 – 2024

This has been an exciting and rewarding year for breastfeeding support in Dorset as we continue to offer much valued support to families in our community as well as celebrating and normalising breastfeeding through the many events and partners we have been involved with.

Our online presence remains an integral part of our support and service. Our private support group has over 2600 members and much like our face-to-face groups continues to provide many families with guidance, evidence-based information, and friendly nonjudgmental support. Although numbers are decreasing for rooms due to our families having access to lots of face-to-face groups, we still feel currently that our online video support is an important part of our service. It is FAB Dorsets aim to be able to support and celebrate all aspects of breastfeeding, through our network of groups or our social gatherings and celebrations for families.

STAFF, VOLUNTEERS AND TRAINING

Heather Moloney was our team member for BCP, due to a decrease in her working hours Heather attended two groups and covered a third when needed. She has a great rapport with

volunteers and ensured all the groups are welcoming,

accommodating and run seamlessly. Heather also continues to have strong relationships within the local community and

regularly attends the Little Pickle Markets and Community Action

Network events, where her efforts in raising awareness of F.A.B do not go unnoticed.

Mel Fynes continued her training role with FAB through 20232024, working alongside Deb supporting learners in the training program.

Sadly, both Heather and Mel took redundancy at end of this year. However, Heather continues to volunteer with the service.

Keeley Woodward supports at groups and events within the Purbeck area as well as maintaining the support through our social media platforms. She has continued to develop links within the local community and has had follow up connections and plans to work with both Bourne Green and Arne, developing further connections within the local community. Keeley also liaises with student midwives who wish to further their breastfeeding knowledge by visiting FAB groups and talking to both volunteers and breastfeeding families, Keeley works with both student midwives and FAB peer supporters to arrange these visits and take feedback on the visits. In celebrating and normalising breastfeeding Keeley also took a lead role in the organisation of the breastfeeding photo exhibition event.

Deb Woodward remains the volunteer coordinator for FAB Dorset peer supporters alongside managing the Dorset service, supporting families across Dorset and BCP. Deb also continues

her work as a part of the FAB training team now training volunteers for not only Dorset but the other FAB areas. Deb also trains volunteers for the Defence Breastfeeding Network volunteers under her role as the volunteer coordinator for the DBN.

Volunteers and Training

We currently have 35 active peers and 3 Meet and Greet volunteers. Thirteen volunteers completed training in 2023 – 2024.

Many of these volunteers are supporting at face-to-face groups as well as through the closed Facebook group and now at some of our community events.

There are currently 5 volunteers interested in training to support with FAB Dorset alongside 2 hoping to training with the DBN.

GROUPS AND SUPPORT

There are currently 12 groups across the area, from Bridport in the East to Ringwood in the West on the Hampshire border. Across all of our groups we have supported families with a total of 2195 attendances. Our volunteers have offered a total of 1378 hours of volunteering at groups this year. Or Facebook support group has engaged with families for support either online, messenger or via Facebook rooms a total of 688 times. As we are no longer a commissioned service, we no longer receive data from the two local hospitals. This has seen a decrease in other support, with telephone, text and email support totalling 49 families.

~~a~~ Quotes from FAB “I have been volunteering with and it has been rewarding to be people when tea, an ear, and a

peer supporters ~~———— aa~~ happily FAB for 5 years incredibly there for so many they need a cup of shoulder to cry

on. Mulberry is a beautiful and essential group for those in the Weymouth and Portland area.”

“ Being a peer supporter has given me a sense of community and a village of like-minded mums. I love chatting with both peers and new parents and I receive as much support myself as I give out to others!

"On the ground" its very clear to see that there is a huge gulf in breastfeeding support. We regularly see Mums (on a weekly basis) that have been let down by the system. The problems that these mums bring to us are much, much more complex that what a peer supporter is able to manage, and we find ourselves signposting very often to higher level support (NBH or IBCLC).

I wish we were more integrated into the system. It would be wonderful to run a peer support group alongside a midwife, or health visitor list. So mums can drop in before or after an appointment! I think that would be such an easy win

Thanks as always, for your hard work!”

Partnership working

Although the Breastfeeding Network are now the commissioned service FAB were invited to be part of the Dorset Infant Feeding Network and Deb Woodward regularly attends meetings showcasing FAB and the support the service offers.

Health Visiting Team- we regularly update the Health Visiting Teams with group information. With the uptake in support in Ringwood, Deb is now also a part of the New Forest LIG working to signpost mums who may live in Hampshire but able to access support in Dorset.

HV’s who are seeing mums in the community are very proactive in signposting mums to groups, they will also contact the FAB Team for additional support for mums. Many personal links with individual HV’s continue and this is a great way to complement support for mums.

Antenatal/ midwives- we work alongside midwives in some of our groups, allowing signposting between services. We also continue

to have student midwives joining our groups as part of their training and development.

NICU at Poole

The team at Poole regularly request FAB leaflets to give to mums

Dorchester hospital - The Lead MW at DCH requested the FAB information in order to sign post mums to support.

The Dorset Infant Feeding Team meet quarterly to look at support and signposting to services.

Community Partnerships

DORPIP- working together collaboratively and signposting between services.

Bourne Green- regularly attend two of our groups and support alongside us at events.

Little Pickles- FAB attend markets in the BCP area free of charge, to talk to expectant families.

Community Action Network- support FAB with networking and collaborative working with other voluntary sector organisations.

Maddie’s Miracle- FAB collaborate with Maddie’s Miracle who are another breastfeeding support charity in the BCP area. We signpost between services and collaborate with them at events.

Not Just Sundaes- Charity run community space who welcome the FAB group as well as display leaflets and merch. The NJS

houses the local community fridge which has been an invaluable asset to FAB and the mums we support. They are also a part of the Welcome Breastfeeding Scheme.

Blandford GP practice out on a monthly wellness clinic which FAB were invited to be part of. Offering support to the community and also networking with other health and community organisations in the local area.

Achievements

Continued community events and celebrations have allowed for FAB to become more visible in the community rather than just being known by breastfeeding parents.

Being invited to be a part of the Dorset Infant Feeding Network by Public Health in recognition of the support FAB still offer to breastfeeding families in Dorset.

Our Blandford peer supporter Jess was named ‘volunteer of the year’ for all of her hard work, dedication and enthusiasm towards FAB, her group and her local community.

Challenges

As we are no longer proactively telephoning mums about the service, numbers for some groups have decreased.

Engagement from peer supporters in more than just the groups, there is a need for promoting their groups, Facebook support and attending events in order to connect with the families we would have been contacting. This can be difficult when peer supporters are balancing their home/ work life alongside their volunteering role.

Events

Purbeck Valley Folk Festival with Maddie’s Miracle

Bournemouth Volunteer Expo

FABFEST

Little Pickles Bump to Baby Show

Little Village Pop up Event

¥" JJ Photography Event

Poole Baby Event NALD)

Bridport breastfeeding Antenatal evening |

National Breastfeeding Week/ Peer Supporter Celebration OO

| Pi Weymouth Community Expo .

Wool Carnival

Little Pickles Market

Littledown Family Fun Day

Social Value

Families and Babies allow families to connect with other parents who may be facing similar challenges not just with breastfeeding but with the highs and lows that come with those early days and weeks of parenthood.

Our groups are a welcoming space with a community of likeminded families and volunteers. Beyond our groups, this continues within the community through our Breastfeeding Welcome Scheme and our focus on celebrating and normalising breastfeeding. Our outreach work through events showcases FAB and the service we provide. This allows us to reach the wider community and not just the breastfeeding families we support.

The next 12 months

As we move into 2024/2025, we will be looking at changes to groups and restructuring part of the FAB Dorset service to accommodate a smaller team. We do hope to have a community space which will make support even more accessible to families. We will continue our partnership working and expand on this with further organisations with similar values to that of FAB. We hope to engage more volunteers in both peer supporter roles and community roles. We will always continue to normalise and celebrate breastfeeding in the communities we support.

Feedback on the service

Yes, not only got reassurance, but gained a deeper understanding of aspects of breastfeeding. Also found it helpful meeting other

mums, and have made some lovely connections. It also helped me feel more comfortable breastfeeding around other people, as it is so normalised in the groups.

It’s so helpful and essential to breastfeeding mothers to be able to go somewhere safe knowing you will be supported and

reassured and feel empowered and encouraged to continue breastfeeding.

Really helpful. Kind and lovely facilitators. Warm and friendly group, which is evident from the fact that people return regularly with their older babies/toddlers.

With a baby that was struggling to gain weight, I was desperate to 'get things right' and I was told tips and tricks that I'd not heard of before in achieving the best from each feed. Peer supporters showed genuine care and concern and each week when we'd chat they ask sincerely how we were and how feeding was going. This continued support weekly was invaluable in me continuing with feeding as it was an incredibly hard start and in the early weeks throughout.

months and I plan to continue at least until she is one year. Also really appreciate the general support and socialising with other mums.

I was supported to get a good latch with my son. We struggled for weeks before attending and it was so helpful. It was a great place to discuss and get advice from both support workers and other mums, not only with all things breast feeding but all things baby!

I attended a little apprehensive, but the peer support ladies made me feel so welcomed. They offered advice and supported me over several weeks to turn my breastfeeding story from something quite stressful to something magical which we both know love and enjoy! I cannot thank them enough!

Even though I never found the time to attend, I felt the online group was a safe space for a first time mum trying out breastfeeding, it was lovely to scroll through at 3am in the morning with a newborn seeing I wasn't alone with my breastfeeding journey. I didn't feel like I was judged as a parent and safe.

As there are more local groups to me than the breastfeeding network, I found it more manageable especially as driving far with a little baby and faffing with paying for parking ect is a nightmare. The FAB locations such as Hamworthy and Wareham where more approachable.

having trouble with feeding. The support I received was fantastic. I then returned again when my daughter was about 6 months old when I was struggling with the demands of feeding. The moral support and boost I got from the group was fabulous and kept me going. I managed to keep breastfeeding until about 14 months.

Far better than support I received where we used to live with my first baby. Very welcoming, non judgemental and knowledgeable

Yes, enabled me to make friends with other breastfeeding mums & be able to get to know those at the groups made me more comfortable getting ongoing support (managed to feed for over 4 years!)

You are fabulous, I could not have breast fed my daughter without you. We are still feeding at 18 months and I am so greatful!

Yes, I felt less alone. I also feel safe in that I know I can go along to the group & get support should I have any problems on my breastfeeding journey.

Yes, absolutely. I learned so much from these groups. Everyone can tell you what you need to know about bottle feeding but breastfeeding is so different. As someone who really struggled with confidence at the beginning it was so amazing to have a safe warm space where I was welcome to breastfeed without feeling like anyone was judging me or like I would be shamed by anyone.

I received face to face and online support from FAB, they gave me great advice and really helped me to continue feeding my child when I could have given up.

The advice was invaluable and totally transformed our breastfeeding journey. I was being encouraged by

healthcare professionals to bottle feed but FAB helped me so much I never had to.

A totally invaluable resource to all new mothers. I’m so grateful to the charity for helping me so much and I will be back if I have other children.

Amazing support and guidance. Going above and beyond to ensure, out journey continued, via expressing while my little one grew and learnt to feed from source.

I had help with positioning as my child grew. I gained knowledge about supporting my supply. We discussed myths by family and friends. But also, it was a safe place to go and just cry when I was struggling with a baby with reflux and colic who at the start had a tongue tie.

baby initially which was very upsetting and stressful. I have now been happily breastfeeding him for 6 months. I am convinced that this wouldn't be the case had it not been for the help I received.

Super friendly peer supporters who were able to help with every feeding related problem I had at every step of the way. The one to one/in person advice is not something I received through the NHS, it helped tremendously and I’m sure I would have struggled without it.

The ongoing, easy access to support has been so appreciated. I also found the group excellent from a social and emotional support point of view. Can’t thank the volunteers enough!

The FAB feeding support groups are a key service for a successful feeding journey. Without the face to face peer support my journey would have ended before it started. They were kind, welcoming, informative and made an amazing HOT cup of tea. The groups are welcoming, relaxed and filled with fellow mums riding the waves of sleep deprivation and new mum life. I cannot recommend these groups enough, they are a vital life line to many mums! Thank you FAB for all that you do and continue to do for us boobie mums!!

It's imperative for services like this to be funded and supported. Breastfeeding is one of the best things you can do for your baby and I know so many people who's breastfeeding journey never started because of lack of support available to them. It's a major issue in this country and we must have services that support breastfeeding mothers to give babies the best start in life and new

mums somewhere to turn to. It's hard and we need help - what the NHS offer is not enough!!

Families and Babies Lancashire

Annual Report 2023-2024

Over the last year we have continued to build a robust peer support service carrying out our vision to protect, promote and support breastfeeding.

Staff, Volunteers and Training

One of our main focuses this year has been on building strong support systems. All our staff have regular contact with Sarah our Branch Manager and all our volunteers have regular contact with Cassi our volunteer co-ordinator. This year the staff and volunteers have had quarterly supervisions and one-to-ones as well as completing 11 mandatory training modules to make sure they are providing up to date and high-quality support. The staff have also completed BFI update training.

Alongside the mandatory training, some of our staff attended a webinar event held by the Perinatal Mental Health and Maternity Networks for the Northwest Coast for Eating Disorders in the Perinatal Period. This webinar event’s aim was to develop understanding of experiences and pathways for eating disorders during the perinatal period from the perspective of experts by experience, perinatal mental health services and maternity services. They introduced the subject and supported attendees including our peer supporters to become more aware of eating disorders in the perinatal period and considered how they can provide person centered care.

Four of our staff members also attended an MNVP feedback session listening to Bereaved Families. During the session they listened to individual family’s experiences enabling them to have a better insight into how to support bereaved families and be part of discussing changes to improve the care provided.

Our Branch Manager Sarah attended the 2023 BFI conference held in Harrogate along with the 0-19 Infant feeding team. Sarah made notes and put together an information sheet which she shared with the team so they all could learn and benefit from the conference.

Groups

This year we have focused on recruiting volunteers from targeted areas to set up new groups in areas that don’t have them. We currently have 12 breastfeeding support groups running in 9 out of the 12 districts in Lancashire and continue to work towards having groups in the remaining 3 districts to make our groups accessible to more families.

We have continued to work very closely with the community infant feeding team who run three infant feeding clinics alongside our breastfeeding support groups in Skelmersdale, Preston and Burnley. This gives mums access to both these services together in Central, East, and West Lancashire. The feedback we receive is that mothers value the services running alongside one another as it enables them to receive specialised medical feeding support from the infant feeding team as well as ongoing peer support from ourselves at the same time.

Partnership working

At Families and Babies, we know the importance of working together with partners and we have continued to build up strong relationships with many.

This year we have become part of the family hub network which is enabling us to join up with other services and together provide support to families to improve the health and wellbeing of the next generation.

We have attended regular meetings at the 5 acute trusts over Lancashire, this helps us all stay up to date with current guidelines and changes and allows us to work together to promote and protect breastfeeding in the early days. We currently have information sharing agreements with ODGH and ELHT allowing us to support more mothers in those areas and are in the process of getting electronic referrals from the remaining 3 trusts.

We are passionate about working together with other services and service users to improve local maternity care and to achieve this, we have attended regular Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership meetings in different areas of Lancashire.

Achievements

We have continued to work very closely with the community midwifes and health visitors and our combined work in maintaining Baby Friendly standards has meant we have again achieved BFI GOLD status. To celebrate we attended a meeting held by the Infant feeding team, along with Lancashire Healthy Young People and Families 0-19 Service, Lancashire County Council, Children and Family Wellbeing Service, Perinatal Mental Health, public health, and the local midwifery teams.

With the aim to promote breastfeeding we continue to work with venues over Lancashire by signing them up to our breastfeeding friendly scheme where we provide them with a sign-up pack. The sign-up pack includes a poster or sticker to let customers know they are welcome to breastfeed and a policy and information sheet to make sure all staff are welcoming and supportive of breastfeeding mothers. To date we have an amazing 475 venues signed up over Lancashire and these continue to increase.

We know the importance of mothers having breastfeeding peer support in the early days so one of our main goals this year was to have peer supporters on the wards five days a week

at all five hospital trusts. We achieved this goal in March and have put a plan in place to keep it this way with back up staff cleared to cover.

We have taken 6137 helpline calls this year which equates to over 275 Hours of breastfeeding peer support, something we wouldn’t have been able to achieve without the help of our amazing volunteers who keep the helpline running 365 days a year.

Our social media has continued to grow allowing us to support and share evidence- based information with more families and we have built up an amazing 4699 followers over our social media platforms.

Challenges

One of our main challenges this year has been recruiting and training several new staff members and volunteers to make sure the service is running effectively. All new staff and volunteers have completed the same training, including a 24-hour breastfeeding peer support training course and 11 mandatory training modules, and staff have also completed a 2-day BFI training course. Once these new peer supporters completed their training, they were allocated a mentor (an experience peer supporter working in the same area) who they shadowed and checked in with regularly to learn and gain experience whilst building up relationships within the team. To retain our staff and volunteers we have focused on the support and guidance we provide them.

A challenge we are trying to preempt is an increase in service users once we have all the information sharing agreements in place at the remaining 3 hospital trusts. In preparation we have made changes to our booking system with admin staff booking visits in advance, maximizing our peer supporter’s time, and directing mothers that need less support to our groups and social media platforms as well as giving information about Anya.

Events

This year to advertise our services and provide breastfeeding support to more families over Lancashire we have attended events including Leyland Festival, Blackpool Victoria Hospital’s national breastfeeding week event, the Big Burnley early help event, the west Lancs early help event, Southport Ormskirk and Sefton Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP) event, a New & Expectant Parent Event and Heskin Halls Christmas markets. We also hosted an antenatal class at a Bump Club and to celebrate world breastfeeding week in August, we hosted 3 returns to work sessions In Lancaster, Burnley and Ormskirk. I have added pictures from some of the events we have attended this year.

F.A.B rsin SARAH VALENTINE F.A.B- FAMILIES AND BABIES peer support8ndwhy TUESDAY 25TH JULY @fab_lancs_bf_support TICKETSAVAILAgLEONOW WEBSITE-JUSTPLO!

Social Value

Our staff and volunteers bring a wealth of knowledge and experience and have a combined passion for breastfeeding support. They are from a variety of diverse backgrounds, some of whom speak locally spoken languages including Urdu, Bengali and Spanish which enables us to provide support to more families.

As well as the strong support system and guidance we provide to our staff we like to praise and reward them for all the hard work and dedication providing a gold service to mothers and families over Lancashire. We have rewarded our staff with kudos on their breathe HR accounts and through our rewards hub. On our rewards hub staff also have access to discounts from a wide variety of retailers, wellbeing information and useful tools, and we have regularly given staff recognition on the recognition wall.

Feedback

“The lady that came to save me really helped. I was struggling so much, but she came to see me and gave me some really good tips and it has helped so much xx”

“Just wanted to say thank you and how impressed I am with the support offered by FAB. Check ins have been great and feel confident in knowing where to go for advice if I need it. Thank you!”

“Just a big shout out to the Accrington and Burnley FAB groups. I attended both this week and received some great support re latch. It was good to have people observe and give me tips. Also lovely to see other mums and babies in today's Burnley group � Luca had a great time and so did I.”

“The lovely Loreto and Becky were a great support to me at the beginning of my BF journey, in June last year, almost 11 months on and we are still breastfeeding.”

“I wouldn’t be where I am now with breastfeeding without Fab and I am so grateful and lucky we have this service in our area. Thank you all so much!!”

“Very accessible service with lots of different methods. Gemma was very friendly and checked in regularly offering support.”

“Home visits are invaluable”

“The home visit was very helpful and reassuring and helped me feel confident in what I was doing and how to help with position etc”

“The support I received was first class - I couldn’t have asked for better input so just for it to continue”

“I went to the Morecambe group last week and your fab lady was really supportive and gave me some great advice! Thank you x”

“ Celebrating 6 months of breastfeeding today with my little milk monster �� I’m so proud of us both and not sure I’d of made it this far without this group, so Thankyou to everyone who offers advice daily and to Sarah who came out to see me when I was really struggling in the early days! If you’re struggling right now and are thinking of giving up feeding, please reach out for support as it does get so much easier and you may not feel like it now but it’s the most amazing feeling in the world, eventually � ”

FAB Wakefield Annual Report 2023-24

1[st] April 2023 to 31[st] March 2024

Overview

This year FAB Wakefield is pleased to say we have supported 1420 breastfeeding families. 592 families have received a total of 752 home visits . We have been working hard to deliver the best service possible and to promote breastfeeding with the help of our amazing volunteers.

Our 24hour helpline has been well utilised with 862 out of hours calls, peer support volunteers are able to provide immediate support and information with follow up support offered as routine.

We were excited to have our contract with Wakefield council renewed for at least another 3 years enabling us to provide support to mums within the community.

The contract we have to provide breastfeeding support on the maternity wards at Pinderfields has been renewed for another 12 months enabling us to continue providing support in the immediate postnatal period to help families breastfeed confidently.

We have built upon our antenatal classes with one evening and one weekend session running weekly, our records show that an amazing 83% of women accessing our antenatal education are still breastfeeding at 6 weeks

We worked with Wonderful Chaos photography and created a fabulous breastfeeding calendar – 11 amazing women, and their breastfed babies, bared all in the woods to take some fantastic photographs and created memories to cherish, all in the name of promoting and normalising breastfeeding

Staff, Volunteers and Training

We recruited a new Branch Manager who started in January 2024, Sharon was a service user who joined us as a volunteer, we are very lucky to have her join our team.

12 newly trained breastfeeding supporter volunteers have joined the team allowing us to support even more breastfeeding families across the district.

Two of our proud new peer supporters with their certificates

Two members of staff have gone on maternity leave with two beautiful breastfed babies becoming part of the FAB family, we have two new peer supporters who have joined the team to cover their roles.

Sarah was interviewed and appointed as our Community and Family Hub Network Lead for UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative, an exciting new post working towards BFI accreditation for Wakefield Family Hubs and the FAB Peer Support Service. She has been incredibly busy and we are all looking forward to seeing the results of the training and audit processes she will put in place. In partnership with the 0-19 team Sarah is delivering the two-day UNICEF BFI (Baby Friendly Initiative) training to staff across the district.

Staff and volunteers have completed all mandatory training modules and in addition have all undertaken the NHS perinatal mental health training which enables them to offer initial support and onward referrals to specialist services as required.

Groups

Groups have been really popular over the past 12 months, FAB peer supporters, staff and volunteer, have consistently facilitated 6 groups per week Monday-Friday, a total of 220 groups and we have plans to increase this in the coming months. We have recorded attendance at groups of over 1200 in the past year, providing breastfeeding and social support for mums.

Over 400 of the attendances were at our most popular group which is held at Kendal Drive Family Hub in the Airedale and Ferry Fryston area.

We use our social media to post information about which groups are running on a daily basis to give mums the opportunity to attend a group that suits them best.

Partnership working

We have strong working relationships with both the Midwifery and 0-19 Infant Feeding Leads allowing smooth referrals into the most appropriate service for mums when breastfeeding issues are identified, this partnership working helps FAB staff to support mums in following any feeding plans that are put in place.

As part of her new role our Community and Family Hub Network Lead for UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative has been working with the 0-19 Infant Feeding Lead to develop co-delivery of training to peer supporters, family hub staff and 0-19 staff. We are excited to see the impact of this work across the district

We continue to facilitate breastfeeding groups in the Family Hubs making face to face breastfeeding support accessible in community settings and have been working together to see what more we can do for next year with the introduction of the targeted peer supporter role.

Achievements

We are proud to say that once again we have maintained a 6week breastfeeding prevalence of above 60% for the entire 12 months and at 10 days over 80% of mums supported by our peer supporters were still giving their baby breastmilk, we are proud of this and of every single mum and baby who reached their breastfeeding goals.

Our online antenatal course has continued to be popular this year with 189 individuals completing it. In addition, we facilitated antenatal classes across Wakefield, with 274 attendees. We’ve managed to support 26% more mums than last year antenatally and have worked with a local hypnobirthing tutor to incorporate labour and birth information into our sessions. We have trained two additional peer supporters to deliver antenatal

education as both of our antenatal staff are currently on maternity leave 😊

We are continuing to utilise Facebook as a way of supporting women with Q&A sessions and share lots of evidenced based snippets of information on both Facebook and Instagram. Our closed Facebook group gained over 500 new members this year and continues to be active every day.

Challenges

We have continued to work with Mid Yorkshire maternity ward managers to improve referrals into service and increase understanding of the FAB service with maternity staff. As this year draws to a close we are embarking on a new challenge to implement breastfeeding support between 6pm and 9pm on the hospital wards at Pinderfields to increase the support available to mums and increase visibility of the FAB service.

Financial uncertainty has been a challenge as minimum wage increases put a strain on commissioned services. We have developed our retail arm with our FAB shop going from strength to strength and a new shop location in the early planning stages. Our charity shop is stocking pre-loved baby and children’s clothing and equipment which supports both the charity and local families.

In order to create additional income, we have developed our bespoke FAB merchandise range selling an assortment of booby items, including; bags, tea towels, notebooks, mouse mats and breastfeeding celebration mugs as well as our very popular knitted boobs. We have also launched a range of custom-made breastmilk jewellery for mums to create a lasting memory of their breastfeeding journey.

Events

This year we have attended some great events with Armed Forces Day at Pontefract Park, the Liquorice Festival in the Valley Gardens, Yorkshire Day, Queens Mill and community galas at Normanton, Illingworth and in Ferrybridge. Many members of the public came and shared their own breastfeeding stories with us. i ——

It is always interesting to hear how things have changed over the years and we took the opportunity to share details of the support we can offer to local families.

We celebrated World Breastfeeding Week in August, talking about who supports breastfeeding mothers.

We expanded on this theme during National Breastfeeding Celebration Week in September by asking mums to tell us who their supporters were

Boobie Pot making was a great event held in partnership with local pottery studio Jasmine Pottery who taught us how to mold our own unique boobie pots.

Social Value

We have enjoyed working with Aleks, our Administration Apprenticeship, who has really fit in well with the team and has grown in confidence and ability, she has taken a lead on various projects throughout the year and is doing really well with her studies.

4 volunteers have taken the skills and knowledge they have developed as peer supporters and moved on to train as midwives. We wish them lots of luck in the future and look forward to working alongside them in their new roles.

We have continued to provide placements for college students and those studying for midwifery to increase knowledge and understanding of the service and breastfeeding.

Our volunteer opportunities give mums a stepping stone to further studies and build confidence in women who have been out of the workplace for some time and may feel that they have become de-skilled. The majority of our volunteers and staff come to us as mums who have been supported by the service

The next 12 months

We are currently recruiting for a new Targeted Intervention Worker as due to family commitments we lost the staff member we initially recruited to this role. This role is being funded through the Start for Life funding and will help the FAB service to engage with a wider audience in the community.

We hope to build on the previous success we have had with our antenatal sessions

This is some of the feedback from parents who we have supported antenatally;

ANTENATAL: I can say having just finished one of the antenatal courses that they are fantastic! Definitely worth doing 😊

ANTENATAL: Amazing staff, amazing course. Learnt so much and enjoyed every week.

ANTENATAL: Amazing service! Can’t believe there is a 24hour helpline. Great to be included as a dad too!

ANTENATAL: Sadly, I found out about FAB too late to do the antenatal classes but I was given the free online course which was great and has answered a load of my questions. I feel much more prepared and determined now 😊

Thoughts and comments from our mums

Today we reached 1000 days and had our last feed. Thank you FAB for all your help and support. We couldn't have done it without you x

I recently had some 1:1 support from the FAB lady and she was absolutely lovely and my saviour for breastfeeding! I can’t recommend FAB enough! The support is second to none. They’ve been with me through my pumping journey from day 1 and now helping me and my little one get the best out of latching.

First baby, wasn’t sure to start with felt very lost and unable to do it right. Found Fab and the amazing team helped me gain confidence and friends too! So glad to have

had FAB to help me. 18months down and still going.

The home visit was very helpful and reassuring and helped me feel confident in what I was doing and how to help with position etc

Just a little appreciation post, I cannot thank F.A.B enough, my little boy is 4 weeks old he had a severe tongue tie which was cut but the latch was still choppy and made me sore, I was feeling like a failure as he was feeding for

hours and only sleeping 10 minutes in-between. My c section scar got infected and I struggled to hold my baby to feed as he constantly kicked off. Jade came this week again to collect the pump they kindly loaned me while his tongue tie was sorted and showed me a new hold which has saved our journey as its pain free and he is feeding so much better. We have managed to cut down the formula feed these last few days to only needing a small top up on a night, I finally feel like we are moving forward.

Massive thank you to the f.a.b team, your guys are worth your weight in gold xx

Amazing!! Couldn’t fault the FAB service they provide so much!! Thank you so much especially for the visit at home which gave me so much reassurance and confidence about breastfeeding - as a first-time mum I have found it difficult to begin with and worried that I wasn’t doing it right but the girls gave me so many good tips to take forward and I feel a lot better now. Prior to the home visit I had rung the 24hour hotline and I have found that so useful and supportive. Thank you FAB!!!!

The way that the FAB team supported me in breastfeeding when I was so close to giving up was amazing. The help I received with my latch/positions for a baby with reflux I can’t thank FAB enough for. It’s enabled me to keep going with more effective and manageable breastfeeding. I may need the support again in the future and feel I could always go back

I was really unsure about breastfeeding having never known anyone to do it but after speaking to fab on the ward and then receiving a phone call and a visit I am determined I am going to give my baby breastmilk for at least 6 months. The groups are great and I now have booby mum friends

I had a phone call from a lady (can’t remember her name) and I was so done, she talked to me and was so helpful then the day after Gemma came to my home and she was amazing. Told me I was doing amazing and showed me a different way to feed my son. I can’t thank the whole team enough

More than 260 families have benefitted from a breastpump loans Our Facebook support group now has almost 3000 members FAB Peer Supporters carried out 752 home visits to breastfeeding families 3.57 families received antenalal supp(Irt from FAB 85.5/0 of mothers supported by FAB were still giving breastmilk at 10 days There were S¥ new sign ups to the Wakefield ereartfeeding friendly Scheme Over1600 breastfeeding women were referred into the FAB service Over 98010 of women said they had a positive experience with FAB We took 862 out of hours helpline calls from families 1132 mums attended breastfeeding groups across the district At 6 weeks over 62/ of vomen were still giving breastmilk to their babies FAB FAMILIES AND BABIES