Somali Adult Social Care Agency (SASCA) Annual General Meeting (AGM) Monday 11[th] October 2021, 2 to 3.30 pm including Annual Report for 2020/21
Here’s all the information you need for the meeting!
Taking part with Microsoft Teams
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AGM agenda
(approximate timings)
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2.00 to 2.10 Welcome from Chair and “housekeeping”
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2.10 – 2.30 Guest speaker: Councillor Mahadi Sharif Mahamed
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2.30 – 2.40 Minutes of last AGM
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2.40 – 2.50 Annual report to 31/3/21 and update since 1/4/21 2.50 – 3.00 2020/21 accounts and update since 1/4/21 3.00 – 3.10 Elections for the Board 3.10 – 3.20 Any other business?
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3.20 – 3.25 Chairperson’s closing remarks
Welcome from Chairperson and housekeeping
Dave Porter, our Acting Chairperson will greet people and explain what will be happening and how everyone can take part. The AGM will be conducted mostly in English, with some interpreting where needed for Somali or Arabic speaker.
Minutes of last AGM
Minutes (summary notes) SASCA Annual General Meeting, Monday 29[th] June 2020
Present
Mohamed Jeilani, Ahmed Mohamed, Mohamed Egeh, Ismail Hussein, Selina Hanley (chairperson), Dave Porter, Salma Hashmi, Cllr Jill Lovecy, Cllr Rabnawaz Ali, Jack Fitzgerald, Patsy Williams, Roger Bysouth
Housekeeping
Selina Hanley explained about using Zoom and that we would record the AGM – just to help minuting
Welcome from Chairperson
Mohamed Jeilani welcomed all in Somali with interpreting from Ahmed Mohamed
Minutes of last AGM, previous Annual Report and Accounts (2018/19)
SASCA apologised for mislaying minutes of the last AGM. Instead we circulated copies of our checked accounts and the annual report we submitted to the Charity Commission.
Annual report for 2019/20
We circulated this in advance with the papers and Ahmed Mohamed, Roger Bysouth and others spoke about details in it and answered questions from the floor.
Summary of 2019/20 accounts
We circulated estimates of the financial year completed on 31[st] March 2020. Details are still being checked by our accountants. We will circulate final and checked accounts when ready. Ismail Hussein (outgoing Treasurer) and Ahmed Mohamed (proposed new Treasurer) described our routine income and expenditure with main funding from Manchester City Council.
Elections for the Board
Dave Porter explained about the process of appointing Board members who at the moment are also directors of SASCA as a limited company. We discussed and approved the proposal to investigate the plan of de-registering as a company and adopting more accountable rules.
All those who put themselves forward to be on the Board in the coming year were unanimously elected:
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Anya Ahmed – Professor of Wellbeing and Communities, MMU. New nomination.
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Mohamed Egeh – Local resident and SASCA’s Secretary for many years.
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Ahmed Mohamed - Board member for 3 years. Proposed new Treasurer.
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Selina Hanley - Local resident, joined the Board in 2019.
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Hassan Hussein - Local resident and community worker (Claremont Youth Foundation). New nomination.
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Ismail Hussein - Local resident, small businessman. Our Treasurer for many years.
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Mohamed Noor - Local resident and professional interpreter. New nomination.
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Mohamed Jeilani - Local resident and SASCA’s founding Chairperson.
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Isho Omar Saeed - Local resident and on the Board for many years.
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Dave Porter - Local resident. MMU Lecturer, joined the Board in 2018.
Dave also encouraged anyone still thinking about being on the Board to let us know as the Board can co-opt others after the AGM.
Any other business
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Jill Lovecy as Chair of Governors at Claremont Primary School which has a high proportion of Somali-heritage pupils would be happy to attend a board meeting and explore links
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Patricia Williams would also be happy to attend board meetings.
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Jack Fitzgerald offered support to anyone needing help with using any digital equipment email digitalinclusion@manchester.gov.uk in 16 languages including Somali
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Salma Hashmi (Macmillan Cancer Care) possibility of working with Patsy and SASCA to improve health outcomes, information and promote wellbeing for the Somali community.
Chairperson’s closing remarks
Annual report 1[st] April 2020 to 31[st] March 2021
This is our second online AGM and is about the year from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021. We have to formally report on this year to the Charity Commission, Companies House, our funders and to local communities.
Our history
We were set up by Somalis to support mainly Somalis in Manchester in 2008. We now see many others too, from elsewhere in the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and North Africa. What they have in common is that they’re usually recent migrants who have some trouble understanding written English and how UK institutions work. Our advisers speak various languages including Somali, Arabic, Amharic, etc. We give information and basic advice on welfare rights, immigration, housing, debt, getting access to Council, health and care services, and so on. Often they’re relatively simple issues which many residents would have little trouble with. Sometimes they’re complex and we may have to refer on to Shelter (who have run sessions with us), GM Law Centre, GM Immigration Aid Unit, etc.
Before COVID struck, we were advising at least 35 people face to face in an average week: slightly more women than men; mostly in the 40 to 64 age bracket and most from Moss Side and surrounding areas, but with clients from North and East Manchester as well.
COVID meant a fall in numbers of people we gave information or basic advice to. It’s clear most of our clients much prefer to come and see us in person, rather than telephone. It’s easier to talk through face to face and clarify issues especially taking into account the difficulties many clients have in speaking and reading English; the need for interpreting and the time it takes to deal with complex issues. For example filling in one Universal Credit or Manchester Move form can take two or three hours.
We’re concerned that Somalis among other black and minority ethnic residents seem to be particularly affected by COVID. This was brought home to us very strongly when our founding chairperson Mohamed Jeilani died from the infection in January 2021. This was a huge blow to us all. He will be greatly missed and we owe a lot to him.
We’ve continued to receive support from Manchester Refugee Support Network (MRSN). Our main funders (MCC) asked us to work with them. MRSN channel grant to us and advise us about managing information and a range of other issues. SASCA is a member organisation of MRSN. It helps us to have one of our trustees also serving on MRSN’s Board. It is a great source of good practice. We’re also members of Manchester BME Network and the (national) Council of Somali Organisations, a very useful source of culturally-appropriate information and good practice.
Our grant agreement with MCC focusses on improving how we work in return for continued funding. It covers issues like:
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improving governance, Board capacity and skills
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attracting and retaining more volunteers
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working towards dedicated admin and coordination staff time
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more networking
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reviewing legal status (e.g. company registration)
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improving advice skills and training
COVID stopped us doing everything we wanted to on these issues. Perhaps surprisingly it also offered us some new opportunities. We:
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adapted our service to mainly telephone for over a year so advisers worked from home
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employed a skilled Development Coordinator, Sheila Freeman for six months until 31/3/21 with a Lottery Grant designed to help us recover from COVID. She helped us develop better systems which are helping us long term. But there’s more to do!
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refurbished the office so it is a much better environment for clients, staff and other visitors. The Lottery grant also contributed to this, as will a generous grant from the Clothworkers Foundation. For the first time we now have confidential 1:1 advice rooms and the whole centre newly decorated
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responded to emergency needs of local people: a group of Somali taxi drivers asked us for help in getting organised to distribute food and meals to vulnerable and isolating people, mainly older Somalis.
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asked Stuart Vaughan from Macc to meet our trustees and train us on Board roles and responsibilities
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researched how best to bring our legal identity up to date, We consulted with Macc and others and we plan to adopt a more accountable charity constitution and de-register as a Company soon.
Accounts 2020/21
We attach our recently audited accounts for the year to 31[st] March 2021
What has been happening since 31[st] March 2021
We will cover what happens in the whole year starting 1[st] April 2021 in our next AGM and Annual Report. But here is a sneak preview of what has happened so far:
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we’ve completed our office refurbishment. We now have confidential advice space and a much better environment for all users of the centre
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we opened again to the public in late July 2021. We’ve changed hour opening hours slightly. We’re open Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. We have noticed that the overall number of people we’re helping has immediately gone up a lot. And that by opening a little earlier we can attract a wider variety of people e.g. women after they have taken children to school.
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At the moment COVID is still the single biggest issue we face. We protect paid and volunteer staff and users by asking everyone to wear masks and maintain social distancing when in our centre.
The following is our current expected budget for this year, ending 31[st] March 2022
| SASCA Estimated Budget 01/04/2021 - 31/03/2022(at 4/10/21) | SASCA Estimated Budget 01/04/2021 - 31/03/2022(at 4/10/21) | SASCA Estimated Budget 01/04/2021 - 31/03/2022(at 4/10/21) |
|---|---|---|
| Out £ | In £ | |
| MCC Our Manchester VCS Development Fund (Expected) | 39000 | |
| Covid RecoveryManchester CityCouncil(Paid) | 6163 | |
| Arnold Clark (Paid) | 1000 | |
| Clothworkers Foundation(Expected) | 10000 | |
| Gross salaries + Employer’s NI/HMRC, pensions, other pay | 19000.00 | |
| Rent | 1260.00 | |
| Utilities | 1480.00 | |
| Broadband and Landline | 1200.00 | |
| MRSN Fee | 3940.00 | |
| Office Expenses(Consumables e.g. stationery,print) | 1800.00 | |
| Invoices | 160.00 | |
| IT support fees + Bytesize Computers | 500.60 | |
| Accountants fees | 550.00 | |
| Voluntaryexpenses | 2500.00 | |
| Insurance | 230.00 | |
| HMRC | 3182.00 | |
| Training | 1000.00 | |
| Alimoproperty | 9298.00 | |
| Sasca Newspaper x 2 | 789.80 | |
| Total expenditure | 45270.40 | 56163.00 |
| Balance at 31/3/22 | 10892.60 |
Elections for the Board
The people who have put themselves forward to be on the Board in the coming year are (in alphabetical order):
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Anya Ahmed (since 2020)
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Ali Mahamed Ahmed (since 2020)
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Lorna Chesterton (new)
Mohamed Egeh (since 2008)
Ahmed Mohamed (since 2016)
Selina Hanley (since 2019)
Isho Omar Saeed (since 2015)
Abdi Karim Osman (since 2020)
Dave Porter (since 2018)
We haven’t yet set an upper limit to the number on the Board and so there are enough places for all of these – and more!
If you would like to know more about what being on the Board involves, or think you could be part of the Board, but haven’t put your name forward in time for this AGM,
please let us know. The Board can “co-opt” additional people during the course of the year.
Any other business?
You can raise any questions or comments at this point on the agenda if you haven’t already had a chance.
You can also type them into “Chat” on the Zoom call. We may be able to answer these through “Chat” during the meeting. And if not we will get back to you later.
(New) Chairperson’s closing remarks
Thanks for your participation! And please keep in touch throughout the coming year.
A note about SASCA’s rules
SASCA is registered as a charity (1143949) and also as a company limited by guarantee (06656591). As noted above we have been investigating making SASCA more accountable to its stakeholders and propose to re-register with a charity’s constitution and deregister as a company limited by guarantee.
Our current rules are our "Memorandum and Articles" (M&A). They only mention General Meetings (GMs) not specifically AGMs. Summary M&A rules are:
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Members are the original signatories of the M&A plus "every other person who agrees to become a member, and whose name is entered in its register of members".
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Only members can attend GMs and vote.
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It's up to directors (= Board members) to
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define how members apply to become members
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decide whether or not to approve applications for membership
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set minimum number present for quorum
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appoint a chairperson for the meeting - not necessarily the chairperson in
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the previous year
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votes are by show of hands unless someone requests a ballot (counting it properly)
To behave more accountably in preparation for re-registering with the Charity Commission, we’ve adopted some other good practice to run our AGMs, especially encouraging a wide range of people to get involved by:
1. publicising the AGM very widely, locally
2. explaining what being on the Board means
- setting an agenda that outlines what we have been doing and plan to do
| **Somali ** | Adult Social Care Agency | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Contents | |||
| Company Information | |||
| Directors'Report | 2 | ||
| Profit and Loss Account | 3 | ||
| Balance Sheet '.' | 4 | ||
| Statement of Changes in Equity | 5 | ||
| Notes to the Unaudited Financial | Statements | 6 to 7 | |
| Detailed Profit and Loss Account | 8 to 9 |
| 2021 | 2020 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Note | £ | £ | |
| Turnover | |||
| Gross profit/(loss) | |||
| Administrative expenses |
(52,787) | (34,800) | |
| Other operating income | 55,038 | 35,960 | |
| Operating profit | 2,251 | 1,160 | |
| Profit before tax | 4 | 2,251 | 1,160 |
| Profit for the financial year | 2,251 | 1,160 | |
| The above results were derived from continuing operations. |
| 2021 | 2020 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Note | £ | £ | ||
| Fixed assets | ||||
| Tangible assets | 5 | 1,286 | 1,513 | |
| Current assets |
||||
| Cash at bank | and in hand | 21,885 | 19,233 | |
| Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year |
6 | (674) | (500) | |
| Net current | assets | 21,211 | 18.733 | |
| Net assets | 22,497 | 20,246 | ||
| Capital and |
reserves | |||
| Profit and loss account | 22,497 | 20.246 | ||
| Shareholders' | funds | 22,497 | 20,246 |
| Profit and loss | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| account | Total | ||
| £ | £ | ||
| At I April 2020 | 20,246 | 20,246 | |
| Profit for the year | 2,251 | 2,251 | |
| Total comprehensive | income | 2,251 | 2,251 |
| At 31 March 2021 | 22,497 | 22,497 | |
| Profit and loss | |||
| account | Total | ||
| £ | £ | ||
| At I April 2019 | 19,086 | 19,086 | |
| Profit for the year | 1,160 | 1,160 | |
| Total comprehensive | income | 1,160 | 1,160 |
| At 3 I March 2020 | 20,246 | 20,246 |
2021 |
2020 |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | |||||
| Depreciation | expense | 227 | 267 | |||
| 5 | **Tangible ** | assets | ||||
| Furniture, | ||||||
| fittings and | ||||||
| equipment | Total | |||||
£ |
£ |
|||||
| Cost or valuation | ||||||
| At | 1 April 2020 | 7,100 | 7,100 | |||
| At | 31 March | 2021 | 7,100 | 7,100 | ||
| Depreciation | ||||||
| At | 1 April 2020 | 5,587 | 5,587 | |||
| Charge for the year | 227 | 227 | ||||
| At | 31 March | 2021 | 5,814 | 5,814 | ||
| Carrying amount | ||||||
| At | 31 March | 2021 | 1,286 | 1,286 | ||
| At | 31 March | 2020 | 1,513 | 1,513 | ||
| 6 | Creditors | |||||
| , . | ||||||
| **Creditors: amounts falling ** | due within one year | |||||
2021 |
2020 |
|||||
| Note | £ | £ | ||||
| Due within one year | ||||||
| Taxation and | social security | 174 | ||||
| Accruals | 500 | 500 | ||||
| 674 | 500 |
| 2021 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | |
| Other income (analysed below) | 55,038 | 35,960 |
| Administrative expenses |
||
| Employment costs (analysed below) Establishment costs (analysed below) General administrative expenses (analysed below) Depreciation costs (analysed below) |
(31,670) (4,833) (16,057) (227) |
(20,919) (886) (12,728) (267) |
| (52,787) | (34,800) | |
| Operating profit | 2,251 | 1,160 |
| Profit before tax | 2,251 | 1,160 |
| 2021 | 2020 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | ||
| Employment costs |
|||
| Wages and salaries | (23,509) | (15,219) | |
| Staff pensions | (218) | ||
| Subcontract cost | (7,943) | (5,700) | |
| (31,670) | (20,919) | ||
| Establishment costs |
|||
| Light, heat and power | (404) | (537) | |
| Insurance | (229) | (229) | |
| Repairs and renewals | (4,200) | (l20) | |
| (4,833) | (886) | ||
| General administrative | expenses | ||
| Telephone and fax | (1,375) | (1,200) | |
| Rent, Rates & Water | (5,564) | (5,481) | |
| Printing, postage and stationery | (lOO) | ||
| Canteen Expenses | (144) | (2,472) | |
| Website Design | (148) | (215) | |
| Volunteers Payments | (8,140) | (2,120) | |
| Sundry expenses | (78) | ||
| Software subscriptions | (108) | ||
| Travel | (550) | ||
| Advertising | (90) | ||
| Accountancy fees |
(500) | (500) | |
| (16,057) | (12,728) | ||
| .. | |||
| Depreciation costs |
|||
| Depreciation of fixtures and fittings | (227) | (267) | |
| Other operating income | |||
| Government grants receivable | 15,278 | ||
| Other income | 39,760 | 35,960 | |
| 55,038 | 35,960 |
| **Somali ** | Adult Social Care Agency | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Contents | |||
| Company Information | |||
| Directors'Report | 2 | ||
| Profit and Loss Account | 3 | ||
| Balance Sheet '.' | 4 | ||
| Statement of Changes in Equity | 5 | ||
| Notes to the Unaudited Financial | Statements | 6 to 7 | |
| Detailed Profit and Loss Account | 8 to 9 |
| 2021 | 2020 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Note | £ | £ | |
| Turnover | |||
| Gross profit/(loss) | |||
| Administrative expenses |
(52,787) | (34,800) | |
| Other operating income | 55,038 | 35,960 | |
| Operating profit | 2,251 | 1,160 | |
| Profit before tax | 4 | 2,251 | 1,160 |
| Profit for the financial year | 2,251 | 1,160 | |
| The above results were derived from continuing operations. |
| 2021 | 2020 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Note | £ | £ | ||
| Fixed assets | ||||
| Tangible assets | 5 | 1,286 | 1,513 | |
| Current assets |
||||
| Cash at bank | and in hand | 21,885 | 19,233 | |
| Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year |
6 | (674) | (500) | |
| Net current | assets | 21,211 | 18.733 | |
| Net assets | 22,497 | 20,246 | ||
| Capital and |
reserves | |||
| Profit and loss account | 22,497 | 20.246 | ||
| Shareholders' | funds | 22,497 | 20,246 |
| Profit and loss | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| account | Total | ||
| £ | £ | ||
| At I April 2020 | 20,246 | 20,246 | |
| Profit for the year | 2,251 | 2,251 | |
| Total comprehensive | income | 2,251 | 2,251 |
| At 31 March 2021 | 22,497 | 22,497 | |
| Profit and loss | |||
| account | Total | ||
| £ | £ | ||
| At I April 2019 | 19,086 | 19,086 | |
| Profit for the year | 1,160 | 1,160 | |
| Total comprehensive | income | 1,160 | 1,160 |
| At 3 I March 2020 | 20,246 | 20,246 |
2021 |
2020 |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | |||||
| Depreciation | expense | 227 | 267 | |||
| 5 | **Tangible ** | assets | ||||
| Furniture, | ||||||
| fittings and | ||||||
| equipment | Total | |||||
£ |
£ |
|||||
| Cost or valuation | ||||||
| At | 1 April 2020 | 7,100 | 7,100 | |||
| At | 31 March | 2021 | 7,100 | 7,100 | ||
| Depreciation | ||||||
| At | 1 April 2020 | 5,587 | 5,587 | |||
| Charge for the year | 227 | 227 | ||||
| At | 31 March | 2021 | 5,814 | 5,814 | ||
| Carrying amount | ||||||
| At | 31 March | 2021 | 1,286 | 1,286 | ||
| At | 31 March | 2020 | 1,513 | 1,513 | ||
| 6 | Creditors | |||||
| , . | ||||||
| **Creditors: amounts falling ** | due within one year | |||||
2021 |
2020 |
|||||
| Note | £ | £ | ||||
| Due within one year | ||||||
| Taxation and | social security | 174 | ||||
| Accruals | 500 | 500 | ||||
| 674 | 500 |
| 2021 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | |
| Other income (analysed below) | 55,038 | 35,960 |
| Administrative expenses |
||
| Employment costs (analysed below) Establishment costs (analysed below) General administrative expenses (analysed below) Depreciation costs (analysed below) |
(31,670) (4,833) (16,057) (227) |
(20,919) (886) (12,728) (267) |
| (52,787) | (34,800) | |
| Operating profit | 2,251 | 1,160 |
| Profit before tax | 2,251 | 1,160 |
| 2021 | 2020 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | ||
| Employment costs |
|||
| Wages and salaries | (23,509) | (15,219) | |
| Staff pensions | (218) | ||
| Subcontract cost | (7,943) | (5,700) | |
| (31,670) | (20,919) | ||
| Establishment costs |
|||
| Light, heat and power | (404) | (537) | |
| Insurance | (229) | (229) | |
| Repairs and renewals | (4,200) | (l20) | |
| (4,833) | (886) | ||
| General administrative | expenses | ||
| Telephone and fax | (1,375) | (1,200) | |
| Rent, Rates & Water | (5,564) | (5,481) | |
| Printing, postage and stationery | (lOO) | ||
| Canteen Expenses | (144) | (2,472) | |
| Website Design | (148) | (215) | |
| Volunteers Payments | (8,140) | (2,120) | |
| Sundry expenses | (78) | ||
| Software subscriptions | (108) | ||
| Travel | (550) | ||
| Advertising | (90) | ||
| Accountancy fees |
(500) | (500) | |
| (16,057) | (12,728) | ||
| .. | |||
| Depreciation costs |
|||
| Depreciation of fixtures and fittings | (227) | (267) | |
| Other operating income | |||
| Government grants receivable | 15,278 | ||
| Other income | 39,760 | 35,960 | |
| 55,038 | 35,960 |