## **Stafford & District Bereavement & Loss Support Service**
Oakridge Business Centre, Weston Road, Stafford, Staffordshire. ST16 3RS Date: Sept 2021
## **Strategic Plan 2021 – 2026 (Extract)**
## **Aims**
- a. To provide one to one support by trained volunteers covering all issues of bereavement and loss (the charity provides support for people over the age of 18 who live in the Stafford, Stone and the surrounding district)
- b. To provide education and training
- c. For the advancement of health or saving of lives
## **Charitable Objectives**
- a. To support persons who are in conditions of emotional need, distress or risk to their health and wellbeing, and in particular to help and support those who have suffered bereavement or loss.
- b. To advance public education and general awareness of the nature of grieving and bereavement
## **Governance**
- a. SDBLSS is a registered charity with eight or more trustees who hold responsibility for the management of the service
- b. The service is reliant on donations, fundraising initiatives and grants
## **Purpose**
This plan will become a working document which will serve to outline the responsibilities and aspirations of the charity for the benefit of the Trustees, volunteers and staff for a five-year period. This plan will be reviewed and amended (if required) at each bi-monthly Executive Committee Meeting. This document supersedes any previous versions of the Constitution.
## **Chairman’s and Directors’ Report from Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 13th**
## **July 2021**
What a year this has been! 2020 proved to be the most challenging of years for all of us and Stafford & District Bereavement & Loss Support Service was no exception. No one could have envisaged the impact of the coronavirus. and so we are immensely grateful to our lead administrator, Lesley B who maintained the smooth running of the service through lockdown, working from home and enabling B&L to continue to support our community clients. It is fair to say that without Lesley, B&L would, like so many other organisations, have had to close.
Sadly, due to health problems, Christine E had to leave her position within the Admin Team and we thank her for the work she has done and welcome her back as a Friend of B&L and a listener with the Befriending Service.
Charity Registration: 1140987
Company Limited by Guarantee, Registered Office as above No: 7288186
## **Stafford & District Bereavement & Loss Support Service**
Oakridge Business Centre, Weston Road, Stafford, Staffordshire. ST16 3RS Date: Sept 2021
Yvonne H was furloughed throughout lockdown and we are delighted to now have her back.
We also welcome back Caroline M who was a Volunteer Bereavement Supporter several years ago, left us to explore other avenues but has recently returned bringing with her a wealth of experience.
With all face to face client work suspended, our volunteers adapted their ways of working through telephone support and Zoom and it is to their credit that of the 108 referrals received, 99 new clients were supported in 620 sessions. A remarkable achievement!
Sadly, with no facility to offer telephone support all sessions in Her Majesty’s Prison Stafford were suspended.
We have continued to supervise our 22 volunteers via Zoom and the Supervision Team has also met virtually, with Jeff L providing individual support to the supervisors through monthly telephone calls. Angela B led 2 Continuous Personal Development events in September and March. The September event looked at Ambiguous / Unresolved Loss and we entitled the March event “Celebrating who we are and what we do!” which seemed wholly appropriate. As well as training, both events gave Zoom attendees an opportunity to connect with colleagues and share lockdown experiences.
Our partnership with Katharine House Hospice is ongoing and we thank the Hospice trustees for their continuing support. However, due to the closure of the Katharine House Clinic we have had to seek new office accommodation and on 1 April Oakridge Business Centre became the new home of SDBLSS. The move has highlighted the need for B&L to become financially self-sufficient and thus a Strategic Plan has been put in place and I would like to thank Maureen R for her help in writing this document. I am pleased to say that our new office doubles up as a counselling room and has enabled us to resume face to face client work.
Other B&L collaborations include the End Of Life Care Action Alliance, the newly formed Staffordshire Bereavement Alliance and a project led by St Giles Hospice, Lichfield called “The Unlockdown Project” in which B&L volunteers worked with Hospice volunteers in supporting Health and Social Care Support Staff to explore the impact of Covid-19.
In May of last year we, together with Katharine House Hospice, launched a Covid support helpline. There was very little take up but the handful of callers were well supported and greatly appreciative. We continue to offer placements to students and our association with Keele and Staffordshire Universities is something of which we are very proud.
The Friends of B&L have had a quiet year as most of our fundraising activities were cancelled or postponed. Lesley will say more about this later in her report. One of the recurring themes of the last 18 months has been loneliness and with this in mind the
Charity Registration: 1140987 Company Limited by Guarantee, Registered Office as above No: 7288186
## **Stafford & District Bereavement & Loss Support Service**
Oakridge Business Centre, Weston Road, Stafford, Staffordshire. ST16 3RS Date: Sept 2021
SDBLSS Befriending Service was formed. A small team of listening volunteers offer 4 weeks additional telephone support to existing B&L clients who have finished working with their Volunteer Bereavement Supporter and it is hoped that at some point in the future the service may be offered to the wider community.
The trustees continue to oversee the service, making decisions that support the work of the volunteers, reviewing policies and managing the finances. One very special trustee is Ian G. For those of you who don’t know Ian, I will briefly outline Ian’s contribution to B&L. Ian is the longest serving trustee and as a founding member of SDBLSS he has been involved in many changes to the service. In the early days of the service he and his wife Ellen were key fundraisers and flag wavers getting B&L’s name known in the community. In time, Ian became Treasurer and latterly has been a much valued trustee with a keen interest in the work of our volunteers.
In the last couple of years Ian has had to take a less active role in B&L but maintains links with the trustees and remains one of the service’s keenest supporters. It was therefore decided to offer Ian the role of Honorary President to recognise his dedication to our service and in appreciation of his constant and unwavering support of our volunteers and I am delighted to report that Ian has graciously accepted the role and will relinquish his trusteeship.
As an organisation B&L is held in high regard within the Stafford and district community and this is testament to the continuing dedication and enthusiasm of everyone involved. The resilience and flexibility shown by our volunteers has been highlighted during the pandemic and our work has never been more important or valued. It is a privilege to belong to this organisation and to work alongside caring, compassionate and professional individuals who make up our fabulous team. Thank you to you all.
Treasurer’s Report: Nick B presented the accounts for the year 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021. Nick reported that the surplus of funds had increased significantly due to a donation of £10,000 from the Borough Council as part of the Crematorium Recycling Scheme which we have not received since 2014. Nick also explained the phasing of payments across financial accounts, eg the invoicing for HMP which may show in arrears or 2 insurance payments coming out of one financial year. New categories have now been including to make accounting more efficient and quarterly reviews with Lesley B are proving to make end of year accounts simpler.
Due to higher cost commitments and since moving in rented accommodation with other costs, Trustees had recently agreed a financial threshold so that any issues can be addressed before the charity is struggling to continue. As the bank is currently showing around £29,000 giving us a surplus of £19,000 we have now gone over the threshold of £25,000, therefore our accounts have been submitted to an Independent Examiner for verification so that we can declare and submit the final accounts in due course.
Charity Registration: 1140987 Company Limited by Guarantee, Registered Office as above No: 7288186
## **Stafford & District Bereavement & Loss Support Service Oakridge Business Centre Weston Road Stafford ST16 3RS Tel: 07828 263554 e-mail: sdblss@hotmail.co.uk**
**www.staffordbereavementsupport.org.uk**
## INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT YEAR ENDED 31[ST] MARCH 2021
|||**2021**|||**2020**||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**INCOME**|||||||
|Paypal Income||£|1,298.51
||||
|Easy Fundraising||£|28.58
|||£237.81|
|HMP Payment||£|2,500.00
||||
|Clients||£|3,330.00
||£|650.00
|
|Charity|||||£|200.00
|
|Friends||£|210.00
||£|236.94
|
|Volunteers||£|57.50
||£|150.00
|
|Gift Aid||£|382.15
||£|216.85
|
|Grants||£|13,730.00
||||
|Furlough||£|1,316.51
||||
|Coffee & Collection Money||£|5,422.49
||£|6,417.69
|
|Online shop gifting||£|10.99
||||
|Covid Helpline||£|1,620.00
||||
|**Total Income**||**£**|**29,906.73**
||£|8,109.29
|
|**EXPENDITURE**|||||||
|Renumeration|£|6,963.00
||£|6,328.82
||
|Income Tax|£|348.91
||£|748.30
||
|Administration Expenses|£|732.55
||£|79.54
||
|Insurance||||£|487.20
||
|Volunteer expenses||||£|1,552.83
||
|Supervision|£|1,520.00
||£|580.00
||
|Website|£|167.99
|||||
|DBS Checks|£|24.00
|||||
|Rent|£|1,000.00
|||||
|**Total expenditure**|**£**|**10,756.45**
||£|9,776.69
||
|**SURPLUS FOR THE YEAR**||**£**|**19,150.28**
||£|831.60
|
|**BALANCE OF FUNDS**|||||||
|Balance brought forward||£|7,211.07
||||
|Surplus for the Year||£|19,150.28
||||
|Balance carried forward||£|26,361.35
||||
|**Represented by:**|||||||
|Barclays Current Account||£|26,289.00
||||
|Income yet to be banked||£|72.35
||||
I confirm that the above figures are a true representation of the current finances as far as the information available allows. C N Barnes
Charity Registration: 1140987 Company Limited by Guarantee, Registered Office as above No: 7288186
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examiner's
report on the accounts
Section A
Independent Examiner's Report
Report to the tnte0s1
members of
C4
AfrJ} _Sts'PPcL-. WICC
On accounts for the year
ended
Charity no
(If any)
-, Mwi Qozi
11404g7
Set out on pages
I reFxKt to the trustees my examinatton of the accounts of the above
charity (Ihe Trusf) for the year ended
Responslbllities and As the chaiity trustees of the Trust. you are responsible for the preparation
basis of report of the accounts in accordance ryth the requirements of the Charities Act
2011 (Ihe Acr).
I report in resped of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out
under seclion 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination. I
have fc41owed the applicable Directions given by Charity Commissron
under section 145(5)(b) of th8 Act.
I have comrAeted my examination. I confinn that no material matt8rs have
come to my attention {other than that disdosed loW ") in connection with
the examlnafv)n thIch gives me Cause to belleve that in. any material
Independent
examinees statement
accountirvJ records were not kept in aCrdance with section 130 of
the Ad or
the acc5n do not accxyd Vth the accounting records
I have rK) concems and have come a{SS no other matters in connection
ith the examination to vhiich attention should be dra in order to enable a
proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
. Please delete the wonls In the brackets rfthey do not apply.
Signed:
2011
Name:
Relevant professlonal
qualification{s) or body
(If any):
K4.EdJ.
Address:
4-L_knu QCKH
'eF¥Trt