**Haven Project Liverpool** Company number 07645243 Registered charity number 1144386
**Financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025**
## **Page Contents**
- 1 - 9 Directors’ (Trustees’) annual report
- 10 Independent examiner’s report
- 11 Statement of financial activities (including the income and expenditure account)
- 12 Balance sheet
- 13-17 Notes to the accounts
KK **Trustees’ Report (** _**incorporating the Direc-**_ Project _**tors report**_ **) for year ended 31 March 2025** Liverpool
The trustees who are also the directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act, submit their annual report and the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025. The company was incorporated on 24 May 2011 and is a private limited company limited by guarantee.
**Full name** Haven Project Liverpool **Registered Charity number** : 1144386 **Registered Company number** : 07645243
**Registered Address** Haven Project Liverpool Bridge Chapel Centre Heath Road Garston Liverpool L19 4XR
**Directors (Trustees)** Genevieve Staley John Staley Lynn McNaught Andrew Pollard
**Position Appointed/(Resigned)** Chair of Trustees 1[st] April 2011 to present Trustee 1[st] April 2011 to present Trustee/Treasurer 6[th] November 2014 to present Trustee 9th February 2023 to present
**Bankers Independent Examiner:** HSBC Mr Ken Brew, BA (Hons.), FCA, DChA 23 Allerton Road 32, Hallville Road, Mossley Hill Mossley Hill, Liverpool L18 2DA Liverpool L18 0HR
.
**Key workers:**
**Project Manager:** Paula Fairbrother **External supervisor** : Dr Peter Blundell
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KK Project
Structure, Governance and Management
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Haven Project Liverpool became a registered charity in October 2011. It is a service that provides support to parents who are involved in public care proceedings initiated by Liverpool Children's Services. Its formation in May 2011 was prompted by the identified lack of services available for parents involved in the court arena in Liverpool.
Approximately 100 families per year are involved in care proceedings with Liverpool Children's Services. Proceedings initiated by Children's Services in other areas of Merseyside (Sefton, Wirral, Knowsley, St Helens) increase that number still further. Many parents report going through the court process alone, feeling frightened, confused and alienated. Government guidance and legislation identifies that providing support to parents in these circumstances is important, however there is currently no statutory duty for Local Authorities to provide such services. As a consequence little support is available for families either locally or nationally.
The Haven Project aims to address this gap in services for the Liverpool area. The service has been in operation since January 2012. The Project has three key aims in its work with parents:
- to reduce parents’ sense of stress and isolation;
- to enable parents to participate fully in the court process;
- to promote positive, lasting change.
The structure and management of this service is still developing and is likely to expand in the future. There are currently 4 trustees who between them have many years’ experience working with children and their families, and specifically working with vulnerable families. At each AGM a third of the trustees resign and can apply for re-election. At present this is done by rotation and longest serving trustee resigning first. Prospective Trustees are able to put themselves forward from the membership and are appointed at the AGM by current trustees and members. Members are those either approached by the trustees to get more involved with the project because they have skills the project needs and/or those who demonstrate they share in the beliefs, aims and objectives of the project and want to become involved more on an organisational level. There are also those who are non-members; who become involved on an operational level through praying, giving or volunteering.
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KK Project
Summary of the main activities
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The trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the aims and objectives and in planning the future activities. In particular the trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set as explained below. The project is available to all those from the Liverpool area who are referred to us by local social workers and solicitors or by self-referral.
## **Objectives and Activities**
The following statement of vision and aims summarises and develops our purposes, as set out in the objects, contained in the company’s Memorandum of Association.
## **Vision**
Our vision is to bring healing and hope to hurting families, breaking the cycle of harm that passes down from generation to generation.
## **Mission**
Our mission is to support parents who are involved in public care proceedings.
## **Aims**
Our aims are to reduce parents’ stress and isolation, to enable parents to participate fully in the court process and to promote positive, lasting change.
Haven Project Liverpool is an organisation which seeks to demonstrate Christian faith in practice. The service offered by Haven Project is open to people of all faiths and none and is guided by the principle that all people, whoever they are, however they live, whatever they've done, should be treated with equal dignity, care and respect. The work is motivated by the belief that no person or situation is beyond hope.
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KK **Activities and Achievements 2024/25**
During 2024/25 the Haven Project worked with a total of 13 parents, 12 women and one man. 8 of those parents accessed our one-to-one support both during and after court, additionally 5 women attended our Butterfly Gathering group for birth mothers.
Our Court Support and Next Steps services provide support which is delivered flexibly in the family courts, in the community and in parents own homes as required. Over the course of this year we provided 129 hours of one-to-one sessions and spent 9 days in court with parents.
In the Court Support service 83% of the parents we supported recorded an improvement in their understanding of, and participation in the court process. Across all aspects of our service, 85% (11 out of 13) of the parents reported and demonstrated a reduction in isolation, 37% reported an improvement in their mental health.
Throughout the year we also attended solicitors appointments and other key meetings with parents. One such appointment involved supporting a mother in meeting with the prospective adopters for her little boys.
This particular meeting, coupled with some additional work with the mother and the adoptive parents, played a key role in the final adoption order including the provision for a face to face meeting each year between mum and the adopters. The plan is as they get older the boys will also be part of this annual get together.
This is one of the earliest cases in the UK to reflect changes that are being encouraged in adoption cases. Research has shown the key role that positive, ongoing contact with their birth family can have for adopted children. For a number of years adoption orders have limited contact with the birth family to ‘letterbox’ communication only, exchanging cards and letters once or twice a year. The emerging research has now prompted the exploration of more creative and meaningful ways of promoting safe, ongoing contact. We were privileged to play an instrumental role in this research being considered and applied for this particular mum and her children.
Following the successful pilot our birth mother group the Butterfly Gathering is now a core part of the Haven Project’s services and we ran 17 sessions this year. As already noted 5 mothers took part and their attendance ranged from 70-94%. Their feedback continues to be positive about the benefits of having a group like this available to women in Liverpool.
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KK Project
Activities and Achievements cont’d
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As we came to the end of the year one of the other mothers, Dani, moved on from the group as she had made so much progress that one of her boys was returning home to her care. Her story follows on page 6.
Our ongoing connections and collaboration with the Ipswich based charity BEAM enabled one of the Butterfly mums to take part with 17 other women in an Arts Council England project. The women took part in a series of creative writing workshops which culminated in them collectively writing and producing a book entitled ‘One Drop Holds the Sun’. The book tells the story of Hope ‘.. _a young mother who loses the care of her children. An unexpected time-travelling adventure offers Hope the chance to heal as she encounters the love and support_ of others’. The book is now available to order through Waterstones. We’re incredibly proud of the Butterfly Gathering mum who took part in the project.
On an organisational level, this year has been a time of preparation for growth and expanding our staff team. As well as applications to different funders we have planned for recruitment of 2 new staff.
A consultation with 25 parents took place in July/August 2024 that formed the backdrop of our Lottery funding application. All of the participants had been involved in public care proceedings with their children and 100% felt that the form of support that Haven offers is needed by parents in the family court. Following this consultation we successfully secured funding from the Lottery, Benefact Trust and Steve Morgan Foundation and we are now able to start recruiting in 2025/26.
Lynn McNaught stepped down from her voluntary role as the Project Manager's professoinal supervisor this year, but continues as a trustee of the Haven Project. We are incredibly grateful for her contribution and support in this way over the years. Dr Peter Blundell, who works at John Moores University as a Senior Lecturer, has now agreed to take on this role for us.
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BO Project **Dani’s story**
## **Dani’s story**
Dani started coming along to our Butterfly Gathering group in February 2024.
Dani’s sons had been permanently removed from her care three years earlier because of a long history of drug addiction and domestic abuse between Dani and her now ex-partner.
When we first met her at the group Dani had been abstinent from drugs for 18 months and was working well with one of the local drug services. Though the drug service offered a wide range of different forms of support, Dani had felt that there was still something missing that she needed. She says she found that ‘something’ at the Butterfly group.
Dani hadn’t met any other mothers who shared her experience of having their children removed. Coming into a group like that, and feeling accepted and valued, was the final piece of the recovery jigsaw for Dani. She came along to the Butterfly Gathering regularly and found that the group helped her recognise and deal with the loss and grief that she felt for herself and her boys. She increasingly accepted her part in her family’s history and continued to work towards change.
As the changes progressed, Dani’s eldest son returned home to live with her, and she is now being assessed for one of the younger boys to move home too. This has meant that the time was right for Dani to move on from being part of the Butterfly Gathering. She has now become a volunteer for another community organisation and has also joined the Haven Project’s newly formed focus group, to help us develop the way we work with parents.
Dani is very much an ambassador for the Butterfly gathering, promoting it to other women she meets as it’s currently the only group of its type in Liverpool.
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## **Gallery**
- A selection of images from our Butterfly Gathering art sessions this year:
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## KK Project **Trustees’ report (continued)** Liverpool **Reserves Policy and Financial Review**
There are two strands to Haven Project Liverpool’s fundraising strategy namely:
- Developing a donor base, encouraging donations from both individuals and churches
- Applications for relevant grants/funds
This year the service was funded by both strands, from a growing number of individual supporters (including additional support from five local churches) and also by grant funding from John Moores Foundation (£8400), LCVS (£3000), Price Parry Trust (£2719) and the Benefact Trust (£10000).
The Benefact Trust grant was awarded towards costs associated with employing an additional worker. Due to the need to secure additional match funding recruitment was unavoidably delayed into 2025/26, thus the fund has been carried forward in it’s entirety. The remaining three grants were awarded to fund our direct delivery costs and a proportion of the Project Manager’s salary and were spent in full.
There was an operating surplus of £4,832 in 2024-25. This is a result of the steady progress in stabilising our finances over the last few years.
To enable Haven Project Liverpool to meet its financial responsibilities, and to survive fluctuations in its finances, the Trustees have agreed to keep a sufficient level of financial reserves, based on a normal year, to ensure that main operations could continue for a period of 3 -6 months. Our target level of reserves is therefore around £17,500. Haven Project Liverpool currently has reserves of £25,397. We are grateful to each one of our sponsors for their generosity.
The level of reserves is managed by the Project Manager daily and monitored by the Trustees every 3 months. The reserves policy is reviewed annually by the trustees.
The trustees will continue to seek to implement the reserves policy. We aim to provide diversified funding support, by widening our donor base and continuing to submit grant applications in future years. We will also continue to control our operational costs.
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KK Project
Trustees’ report (continued)
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## **Exemptions**
The trustees have taken advantage of the exemptions available to small companies, including the audit exemption (see statement on balance sheet).
The trustees are responsible for preparing the trustees annual report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure for that period.
In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
- Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
- Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP
- Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
- State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements
- Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable group and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006.
They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
## **Small company provisions:**
These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006, relating to small companies and constitute the annual accounts required by the Companies Act 2006 and are for circulation to the members of the company.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:
Signed _____________________________________________ Date __________ Genevieve Staley, Director
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KK **Independent examiner’s report to the Trustees for the year ended 31 March 2025**
I report on my examination of the accounts of the charity, which are set out on pages 11 to 17.
## **Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner**
The trustees (who are also the directors of the company for the purposes of company law) consider that an audit is not required for this year under Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 and that an independent examination is needed.
## It is my responsibility to:
- examine the accounts under section 145 of the Act;
- follow the procedures laid down in the general directions given by the Charity Commissioners under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act; and
- State whether particular matters have come to my attention.
## **Basis of independent examiner’s report**
My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair view’ and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
## **Independent examiner’s statement**
In connection with my examination, I confirm that no matter has come to my attention which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect:
- accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 386 of the Companies Act 2006; or
- the accounts do not accord with such records; or
- the accounts do not comply with the relevant accounting requirements under section 396 of the Companies Act 2006 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; or
- the accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102).
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.
Signed _________________________ Date ______________________
Ken Brew BA (Hons.), FCA, DChA
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**Statement of Financial Activities (Incorporating the income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31 March 2025**
||||**2025**|**2025**|**2025**|**2024**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||**Restricted**|**Unrestricted**|**Total**|**Total**|
||||**Funds**|**Funds**|**Funds**|**Funds**|
||**Note**||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Income from:**|||||||
|Donations and|||||||
|Legacies||2|24,119|20,816|44,935|32,965|
|**Total income**|||**24,119**|**20,816**|**44,935**|**32,965**|
|**Expenditure on**|||||||
|Charitable activities|3,7,8 & 9|3,7,8 & 9|(14,119)|(15,984)|(30,103)|(28,362)|
|Fundraising costs|||0|0|0|0|
|**Total expenditure**|||**(14,119)**|**(15,984)**|**(30,103)**|**(28,362)**|
|**Net income(expenditure)**|||**10,000**|**4,832**|**14,832**|**4,603**|
|Funds brought forward|||0|20,565|20,565|15,962|
|Transfers between funds|Transfers between funds||0|0|0|0|
|**Funds carried forward**|||**10,000**|**25,397**|**35,397**|**20,565**|
All the activities of the charitable company are classed as continuing.
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||||||Haven|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Balance sheet at 31 March 2025**
KK|||||Project
Liverpool|
|||||||
||||**2025**|**2024**||
||
**Note**|**£**|**£**|**£**||
|**Fixed assets**|4||300||0|
|**Current assets**||||||
|Debtors|5|2,360||2,083||
|Cash at bank and in hand||34,274||19,716||
|Total current assets||36,634||21,799||
|**Liabilities**||||||
|Creditors: amounts falling||||||
|due within one year||(1,537)||(1,234)||
|Net current assets|||35,097|20,565||
|**Net assets**|||**35,397**|**20,565**||
|**The funds of the charity**||||||
|Unrestricted income funds|||25,397|20,565||
|Restricted income funds|||10,000||0|
|**Total funds**|||**35,397**|**20,565**||
## **Exemption from audit**
For the year ending 31/03/24 the company was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
Directors’ responsibilities:
- The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476.
- The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts.
These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to small companies’ subject to the small company’s regime and in accordance with FRS102 SORP.
The trustees declare that they have approved the accounts above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:
Signed ___________________________________ Dated ________________ Genevieve Staley, Director
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KK **Notes to the accounts for the year ended** Project **31 March 2025** Liverpool
## **1. Accounting policies**
## **Basis of the preparation of the accounts**
These 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) issued on 16 July 2014 (as updated through Update Bulletin 1 published on 2 February 2016) (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.
## **Incoming resources**
All material incoming resources have been included on a receivable basis – i.e., they are included if the date receivable falls within the period covered by these accounts.
## **Depreciation**
Office equipment is written off over a period of 3 years on a straight-line basis.
Resources costing less than £100 are not capitalised but are written off immediately as revenue expenditure.
All Fixed Assets are fully depreciated on 31 March 2024.
## **2. Voluntary Income**
|Unrestricted|Unrestricted||Restricted|Restricted|Total|Total|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**2025**||**2025**||**2025**|**2024**|
||**£**||**£**||**£**|**£**|
|Cash donations|18,622||0||18,622|17,880|
|Grant Income|0||24,119||24,119|13,000|
|Fundraising Income|0||0||0|0|
|Tax refunds|2,194||0||2,194|2,085|
||**20,816**||**24,119**||**44,935**|**32,965**|
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KK **Notes to the accounts (continued)** Project **for the year ended 31 March 2025** Liverpool
## **3. Costs of charitable activities**
||Unrestricted|Restricted|Total||Total|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**2025**|**2025**|**2025**||**2024**|
||**£**|**£**|**£**||**£**|
|Salaries|2,807|12,146|14,953||16,319|
|PAYE|1,894|0|1,894||2,093|
|Pensions|841|0|841||945|
|Staff travel|974|0|974||1,657|
|Ministry resources for families|0|1,973|1,973||1,250|
|Rent and Council tax|4,024|0|4,024||3,800|
|Volunteer expenses|127|0|127||121|
|Insurance|584|0|584||515|
|Office costs|442|0|442||434|
|Telephone and Internet|835|0|835||641|
|Printing, Postage & stationery|459|0|459||138|
|Bank charges|67|0|67||69|
|Staff Mentoring|600|0|600||0|
|Independent Examiner|200|0|200||200|
|Depreciation|158|0|158||0|
|Training costs|0|0|0||180|
||**14,011**|**14,119**|**28,130**||**28,362**|
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KK **Notes to the accounts (continued)** Project **for the year ended 31 March 2025** Liverpool
## **4. Fixed assets**
||Furniture &|Total|Total|
|---|---|---|---|
||Equipment|Assets|Assets|
||**2025**|**2025**|**2024**|
||**£**|**£**|£|
|**Cost**||||
|Opening balance|2,215|2,215|2,215|
|Additions|458|458|0|
|Disposals|0|0|0|
|Closing balance|**2,673**|**2,673**|**2,215**|
|**Depreciation**||||
|Opening balance|(2,215)|(2215)|(2215)|
|Depreciation|(158)|(158)|0|
|Disposals|0|0|0|
|Closing balance|**(2,373)**|**(2,373)**|**(2,215)**|
|||||
|Net Book Value 31 March 2025|**300**|**300**|**0**|
## **5. Debtors**
||**_2025_**|**_2024_**|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|**£**|
|Gift aid due|2,360|2,083|
||**2,360**|**2,083**|
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KK **Notes to the accounts (continued)** Project **for the year ended 31 March 2025** Liverpool
## **6. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year**
||**_2025_**|**_2024_**|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|**£**|
|Trade creditors|1,537|1,234|
||**1,537**|**1,234**|
## **7. Staff costs and numbers**
||**_2025_**|**_2024_**|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|**£**|
|Salaries|18,820|18,412|
|Pensions|841|945|
||**19,660**|**19,357**|
No employees have employment benefits in excess of £60,000 (2024: Nil)
The average number of staff employed was 1.0 (2024:1.0).
The key management personnel of the charity comprise the trustees and the project manager. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the charity were 19,660 (2024: £19,357).
## **8. Trustees’ remuneration, benefits and expenses**
There are no donations from related parties which are outside the normal course of business and no restricted donations from related parties.
No trustee or other person related to the charity had any personal interest in any contract or transaction entered into by the charity, including guarantees, during the year (2024: Nil).
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KK **Notes to the accounts (continued)** Project **for the year ended 31 March 2025** Liverpool
## **9. Independent Examination**
During the year the cost of the examination and accountancy services was £200 (2024 £200).
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