Action for Asperger's
Annual report
2020-2021
WWW.ACTIONFORASPERCERS.ORG
Charity Registration 1148790
T: 01536 266681
E: Info@attlonforasper8ers.org

Action for Asperger's
E8t. 2008
Counselling lives that have become athersely affectsd by the
experience of autism and Asperger syndrome
Autlsm- Spedallst Counselling Centre
9 Darwin House. Corbygats Buslness Park
Prfors Haw Road, Corby. Northamptonshlre NN17 5JG
Report of the Trustees fw the Period ended 30 Septsmber 2021

Index
Page
Subject
IntroductSw Board of Tnjstees: Patrons: Indeperthnt Examh)ers: Bankn.
G(wernlng D0￿mrt Oryanlsauonal strU￿re.
The Racrultment and appolntment of tsvst•or. and Tralnlng of
trustees Rlsk Management Objactives and actiMUes
Obiectsves and. activiUe5 contlnuetr. Strategles and corrth￿lty
Genernl Dats Protsctlon Regulatkm {GDPR): SafegUa￿lIn
Fundralslng: Financial: The Effert of the Pandernk on ts Charlty
The affact of the Pandemlc on the Charlty Contlnued: Flgurns forth•
reptyur￿ perfod 0110912020 . 31108ll021
Where do our dlents corne from7
10
11
Whwe do our dents com6frorn7 Continued
Letter from Elalne Nlthol8on, MBE CEO
Flnandal Revlw. Prfr*al fundlng SOU￿ Investsn￿ k￿lLY and
objecuves: Tnwtee¢ ReSP￿s{bIlItieS
nandal Re￿￿. Prlndpal fundlng SO￿ Investsn•rt poky and
objectlvas: Trustees, ReSP￿S1b11lt1Q$. cixrtlnued
dwthnt EyAmln*s Report ts the Trus*. Reycuve
resp(Thlbllltles of trustees and examlner. Basls of Inde￿dert
12
14
15
16
Inde￿dent examIn￿$ slatsrnent
17
Acllon forAgpergers Statemant of Flnandal Actlvlues year ended 30
Sept￿ber 2021
Actlon for Asperyers Balance Sxetas at 30 Sept￿nber 2021
Adon forAspergers Notss to the accounts for the year ended 30
Septsmber 2021

Introduction
The Trustses wes*rt thelr anNal report and unaudlted flnand81 Stat*ne￿ for the perlod
ended 30 Septanber 2021. and confimi thw (xxnply wlth The Ch•rilies Act 1993.
amended ty Tha Charhles Act 2Crf16, the TNst Deed and the Charftles SORP Prlndpal
Offi￿ Auusm-spedallst Co(msellirva Centre. 9 Darwln Houw Cortygate Pa
Prfors Haw Road. Corty. Northamptonshlr4 NN17 5JG
Dr LOwens￿n- Chalr
Anthory Mathieson- Vke Chalr
Son1• Owen
Jane L
Rahcel Dulfy
Dame Vmenno We3twood
Dr. Barbara J•¢obs
Mrs. Donna Taggart
Mr. ScottJame9
Mr. Gary Numan
Dr. Luke Beardon
Independent Examiners
Bulley Accountan16 North Stree( Oun(K Petsrt)orough. PE8 4AL
Bankers

Governing Document
The consutukn was adoptsd on 01 October 2008. amerKled on 31 August 2012, and
Aubsequenty amended on 22 September 2017.
Organigatlonal Struc
Actlon for Aspery*s (Afw Is govamod by a board of tsvslW& The charty tnISt￿ are
respMslble for the general control and management of the tharlty. The tNgtees glve thelr
tirm freely and receive no remunwation or other flnanclal benefft
The trustees meet as a boty quartth and are respNwible for al dedslons In r•latlon
to runthg AfA arKI the act￿ltIeS pr￿￿ed by the charlty.
The tn*teu have encouraged tho reuulknent of ￿lurrteQrs for AfA slnce charfty registratlon
was awardad on 31 August 201Z The voluntaers have been deployed for purposes of
ndrdlslng. counselllng, and asslstlng tha founder. Eknine Nkholson, wlth varlous office
admlnistratlon and secretsrlal task&
The dAV.t￿daY managwnthrt of AfA and Its Var10￿ wojects Is thè reswlblllty of Balne
Nlcholson. founder. coun%llor. and chlel exovjth offlcw of AfA
Tho thalr ofthe Dr Max Lowentsn,
The Vlc*thalrrrnts Is Anthony Mathleson. Mr. Mathle8on Is also responslble for al thlrvjs
that are dassed as malntenancthpairfservi¢e In the maln offlce bulklln
Sonla 0￿. trusts4 is re6ponsl)le for akllng Elaine Nkholson wlth managwlal matt•r
Jane Letts, trusts Is responslble for legal matter&
Anthory Hall. truste& Is responslble for thtegk 9￿darKe
Rachd Duffy. trustee. Is rasponslble for cornrnunltyfun(tralslng.
Frances Mackenzl& trust# Is responslble for human re%Jurces and leamlng dMlopm•

The Recruitment and appointment of trustees
The trustees are resp￿Ible for the re(xultment of new trugtees. but In dolng so the tnstees
seek the vlwts •nd recommendatlons of volurrtews and regpxtad profes$I￿al9 presenty
worklng kn the outlsm communlty. The trusteas belkn that thls approath I￿1[ ensure that ary
new trustaes have a good knowledge of autlsm per se- based on personal. wofesslonal. and
expwknllal bathlrn
of the rhrtivs alms and obJ•th* an4.lf all awwj. thry VAII then ba proposed as new
tnMta•g at the nwrt 1rustserf meetlnN The process wlll allow for du• af the
per¥￿.$ ellgibHIty. P*r￿n11 axnP•￿c4 lpedallrt knowkndge and sklll&
Induetk>n and Tralnlng of trustees
Followlng ￿ appolrrtft141rt of • new truste•. suth pwsons vdll b• Introduced to thelr new role
arKI ￿leS of govemlng document and a guld• to the polld•s and procedureg
adoptpd by AfA Som• publlcatlon$ from the ChartUe8 Comfi￿￿10n ar• allo pr￿Ided. Indudlng
thg guldanco on chrftlos and publlc benefft and on th• •dvancwnwrt of auusm awarem
knowledga for the publlc beneft Thls sh￿Id ffisure that Mw tn￿ should bo aware of the
scope of thdr rnsponslbllltles under the Chprttles ACL Inltlally. new tNsieeB wlll work and be
gulded ￿. ex￿n9 trustees. and wlll. ￿[n th months be gI￿n th• tsAk of h•adlrva a project
or acbmty. rvportlng pD)greos rt a tru¥o0s m•etlng that follows wlthln • tlme fvme of 6
Risk Management
The tNths rW¢ rngularty durtrN tholr quart*ty m•ethgsApwoprlat• Dlsdosure and
Bantr￿ Sthgugrdlng IDBS) ched(s that are pffjhancad ffomerly CRB) are made for all th08•
who have a connectlon ts AfA whatwor th•lr capaclty. Chlld Safqguardlng and Vuln•rabl•
Adult safeguardlng tralnlrvJ c4)urses are made avallable to th¢)se vtho work wlth suth grou
Objeckn and actlvltles
Th• obJ•cts of AfA are sot In tha ch•rfty mn8tlttth docum•it and arn 9umrn•rfxd •s
• To offer • bespoke counselllng ser￿• for Ilvtt ov•r th• age of three years whlch have
bacome thrsdy affeclad by the experfence of Aspergerfs symdrome {autlsm spectrum
dlsordert. This applles to those vkno have auUTh and those have a ck>se relatlonshlp
wllh someone who has aUUs￿L
• To Pro￿ advo¢ary for Its dlents Wh￿ and as raqulred.

Our dual alms serve to enable the furtherance of autlsuc mentsl heolth awarenegs In the
local and wider community. AAldiiI(Th￿. AfA caTh also provlde training1 durfry thi5 yar wd
hm been eniryyirvJ doing a 'swop" tralnlThJ wlth othw (Kganlsakn we teach them •bout
and they tmth AfA 4b¢xrt thdr speclallty. Thls 'swop' tralnlng h09 proved rnost
loyab
Strategies and community activlties
AfA's seNlce Is a 2417 asslstance fadllty for those who no•d K vla dectronk communlcalons
andl or fI￿￿fIce communlcakn akrti mvrf contsct us at any tlme vla emdl. hence the
"241r: tNs Is allowable due to the comptex processlng that goes wlth an au￿StiC neurolo*al
profile and gives the clients a tharKe to ask questlons andlor Share thelr conc•rM outslde of
the counselung session& The tharity offers low.cost counselling therapy. we rnquert frnm
dlents a donakn tr thelr counsdlSng sesslon {currenty £40465 per hour- tr hlgher
Incom￿ - the dlent de(ides wherE they •re on that wklng scaw. If • 1$ unable to pay.
we ofv t¢lephrrn •ndlor emjll suppwt grth. AfA al80 offers stsxlent cwwelllng at £20 ph
wth counsallors who are In thelr la•t yaar of thelr tralnlng. AfA also w￿deS eATrO￿onal
support for £15 ph: emotlonal support 1$ w0￿ded by workers though not counselllryj
trnlned, have a strong w*rfentlal backgrOw￿ of autlsm. Emotlonal &ppcrt Workers also
partake In AfA trainlng and aUll￿4Pe￿a1lst SUPWVislon, provided by Elaine
Nlcholson and Chrissy Nickel.
Activities
Customer Relations Management {CRM) System
For th• second year. our dlert notss and rec¥xds manogement rema1￿ wlth th• tsHor•d CRM
stem helped and man&g•d by Mr. Davld Malllnder of Gwblnl Blu& Th• CRM systwn Is
somethlr¥J whlch funcllonal and effecuvg though not qulte Ylttlng. ¢)ur requlramon
the trustees, Da￿ Mallinder. S•SM Nlcholson arKI Sonia (kn trNestlgatlons
continue as w• pursue gettlng • CRM sygtern that beffts our neeAl& Thls Is • most difflcult
task, for we do not have the revenue to purchase exath what we need, so our CRM sySt￿n
Investsatlons contlnue slowly, but suretr. It is hoped th•t the thartty wlll be in a posidon to
Pr￿Ide prEdse statlstlcal eMdenc• by the Ilme of the thartty year 202¥2024.
Human Resources
As we adapt to poSt-￿ndernk1If￿ the dwnand for (j￿nge￿Il¥￿ contlnues to bo hlglL The
charlty now has 20 counsellors 5 sttKlent counsellors and an ￿￿Onal supwt worker and
Is •lways looklng to rewlt new coun8ellors, as the mentsl health of our aullstlc pao*s
continues to bo a WKJrfty as w• all ty and recover from the pandemk and the challenges ft
brought with IL AfA contlnues to recrult new counsellor& we are fortunatr In that the
m¥iority of our counsellor8 come ts us Iotyldng ts asslstthe AfA caux,

General Dats Protectlon Regulatlon (GDPR)
Tho charfty has engaged the seNILW of Slmon HlnkB. Data ProtecWDPR spedallst
In the offidal role of dats protecdon ¢)fficer (DPO).
Safeguarding
AfA Is honoured to have Paul James 8$ our safeguardlrw Consultant Paul has had
career of over 35 years In school leadershlp and childr￿'S servlce& He Is gulding
Ilght In thlg respect and we conslder ourselves most fo￿nats to have him on board_
Fundraislng
How do we ralse funds7 Our thernp15ts are prlced out at half of what they woukl eam
prlvately. AfA "creams" off from thelr hou￿ rrt and though thls Isn* much, we ha
sustalned ourselves slnce 200& Elalne NIC1￿1$On contlnues to worf¢ freely for AfA
donatlng approxlmatsly £20k pa.
The charfty hos engaged a port-tlme fundralslng consultant to help wlth bld wrftlng
durfng thls year. Thls has been rnlatrely 8ucc*ssful gs fina￿111 reconls show an
Incraas• In Income forthls perlod. We hope to contlnuo thls upwards ts4lectory.
We would Ilke to be able to Pro￿ frw In-pergon counselllw to those who do not
have the fvnds to pwy for thelr counsellin& Our fundralslng congult*tt Is worklng on
th15 I￿rsary-type fvndlng. hoplng that fundlng can be acquired for thi& Currenty the
NHS sUpp￿t Iprovth fundlng for) Only two dlents out of over 7k dlent&
Flnandal
AfA remalns a donatloTrled Se￿ although It Is hoped that fundlng from sources such as
grants wlll folow as the tharlty contlnues to deploy expert fvndralslng consultanLy. The
m4lorlty of In￿rne b from donakn for counselllng seNlces as mentioned above.
The Effxt of the Pandemlc on the Charlty
AfA contlnued to work tlrelessly post-pandemlo As a ploneer of ￿e0 counselllng -
havlng consldered It a vltal resource to the counselllng of auusdc Indlvlduals - when the
pandemk the tharfty adapted by dolng all counselllng consultatlons vla vlde& Thls
mode of counselllng therefore dld not Impact the counsellors gr•for they were usad
to thls way of worklng: what has ImpKted, has been the demand for counselllng.

In ternu of numtHS:
Accordlng to tho tharws 1nttlal EwArlq¢ mallboK In the perlod from 0110¥2020
Iroughly when Covld was st*frvJ to tslked ab(Art and the pandank was Just be&4nnhw to
h1¢ to the 31103r2022 (when thls report was belng complled). ￿ have sean
appn>xlmately 3588 n•w •nqulry •m•lk This equatss to 75 new enquiries per week At
its peak durfng the p8ndeml& AfA recelved 8 new enqulrles per hwr. cornpwe th•t to prtr
pandemk when AfA rttelv•d aP￿MItelY 8 new enquiiies per week
Acc¢Kdlng to Ad•Jn far Aspwyrfs CRM syst￿n. tha dMNJe kn dlwrt numb*3 acro$8 the
pandemlc has be￿ a8 follows:
•As of the 0110¥202Q Just as the pandemk WAS begknnliw, the n￿nber of dI￿}ts on ow
•As of the 31103r2022. whkh Is whern thlngs arn at as th18 rewt Is bolng wrltkn th•
Therefor4 8lnce the pandemk bega￿ &Y•nt Ilst axp￿dI￿v.
Flgures forthe reportlng perfod: 0110912020 - 3Y08r2021
•As of the OIIOW2020. whlch was the start of our flnandal and thus the slart of tho
12-m¢)nth p•rfod for r•portlng. the numbar of dlents on tho ch•rWs CRM systsm waa
•As of the 31108fa02L whlth was the end of our financial year and thus the end of the
12.morrth wlod for reportlry, the number of dlerts on charivs CRM systsm wasA£
Ba8ed on the above Ilqurej. durfng th19 12-month prnl the tharws diatt Ilst grew by
over 1,500 dlents.
In t•rn￿ of the qmall enqulrks the tharfty dealt wlth In thls same perfod. there

Where do our dlents com• from7
• North Wd••
P4otLK
The 40% 'Not DIsclos￿, Indkatss thrt vla dlent personal praferm. they those not to
dlv* thelr geographkal whereabout
The 2186 'Rest of UIC 1$ detsHed Irrt $0. for the followlng go¢>waphknl areas hawB a number of
Mld-walos. South Walos. Scotland. Northqm lrnland and the follovlng Engllsh countles:
Bedfordthlr% Be￿$hI￿ Brfstol: Buddngharnthl￿ CtKshlry Comwaltr Cumlxla; Dthshlr
Devon: Dorsrt l)utham; EsseK GlOucestershlr￿ Greater Manthester. Hampshi
Herel0nlshlr￿ Hertfordshlrv. Islo of Wlght Krt L•nCaShi￿ MThy5i* Northumbwland;
Nottinghamsh1￿ Oxfordshi￿ Rutland.. ShropshI￿ Somers¢ SlaffordshIr￿ Suffokt Surrny.
Su￿￿. Tyne and w￿r, Warwkkshtrq wlltsh1￿. Worcestsrshlre

3% Iqtsal￿ 'NoTrUIC l• d•t•l•d Ilk• ￿.
Australl4 Bahraln; Belglum: Canada: Chlna: Cub•; Cyprus Cz8th Repu* Demott￿e
Republk rf Conw Hnland: FranA Germany, Greece: Guemsey. HONJ Kong: Hungary.
Indla: Israel: ttaly. japa￿ Kenya:
Netherfands Nèw Ze•land: N￿waY. PalUu￿ Panama: P•ru: Phllppliw; Poland: PwtwJaL
Republlc of Ireland; Rvranda; Samoa; Saudl Arabla: sIngap￿ Spaln; Sweth: Swltsland:
Thallan(t Trlnldad arKI Tobago: Unlted Arab USA" Vletnam

Letter from Elalne Nlcholson, MBE, CEO
Thank you for your care and support durkv theso most dlflhwlt t11r￿ You aro
l d)arn wlth you that It has be4n a dmI￿lt year. one of the most (lfflcult In our
hist(xy 8lnce ow IrKeptlon In 2(X)& thls year. l att*npted to trAnd overthe rqlns
of mfirAg￿￿t of AfA but regrettably thls dkl not wwk for AfA Managlng a
counsellhw charfty raqulres more than manawnent knDWkdg￿ It requlres an
rstandlrvJ of couns•lllng alN and • empathk apwo•th thrt must bo
Inh•r•rlt In the Indmdual Nthom shall manage - we hm learned that It cannot
¢%IUvated - and go our posltlonallty Is that ￿ wlll walt pavently for the someone to
C￿ne along at some polnt In the fithre to tske over my role of steerlnfsmanaglng th•
tharity, although please16t me reassurn followers I wlll 'hellcoptsr over AfA unlll my
last brgath. H¢)wever. that sald. despite a dIfft￿ year. m￿agen￿llY speaking. all staff.
c￿CtOrS and espedally Jo Pw50n In￿ Ferrnro), Lynn Lew14 arKI Sonla
approath Thelr efforts have been both £￿PendouS and awe-lmplrfw as I have
watthed them I￿lId a MetsPh￿*Cal wotath fence around Af
A¥ we MIM Into 2021 our most Important and presslng plan18 to contlnue to serve
•ll n•w dlents who come kn(Kklng at our dgor and ts do so wlthout th* havlng to
suffff a long waltlng IISL Recrulthxnt of new counsellors is a pmrity and so an
a(fvalslng campaiw ha$ begun and shall continue without abating. Another prfwlty
Is to {a) add to the trustee board and Ilrt of patrons aNI (b) Increase funds through
fundralslng. We are confldent all akns can be achleved.
Lm and ￿htt0 all.
SIr￿dy.
Elalne

Financial Review
The polky of the trustees Is to hold er￿ugh funds to meet four months opwatlng costs
of AfA Operatlng costs per month are in the reglon cf £4.500 net on averag& It Is the
CEO'S opknlon that a bank baknce of no less than £IO.OC•3 at any one tlme should slt
In the charlty ￿nk to act as a flnandal 'athlon' ShO￿d such a cushlon be neede
Prfndpal fundlng sources
The charftV$ maln source of I￿(X￿8 Is dl*rt donatlons for counselllng {weffarnl
Invesknent policy and objectives
AfA has no long.term 1rNeSt￿ The Trustees cx>rwldor Interest ￿rned by th• AfA
bwk aCCoL￿t through the Co-watlve banklng systwn as a glft of. the banklng
Trustses. Responsibilities
The charfty Trustses are responslble for preparfng an •nnual report arKI flnandal
Statements In accordance wlth applkable law and UK Accountlng Stsnd8rd& The law
applicable to charlty In ￿land and Wale5 requlrEs the Chartty Trustees to prepare
flnan¢ial statemwrts for each yw that gr¥e a true and falr vlew of the econLvnic stats
of affairs of the chwity and of the incoming resources and appllcatlon of resources of
the tharfty for that p•rkxl. In weparfng the finandal Statsrn￿ the Trust•es arn
requlrttl
. Selact sultsble accountlng polldes and apply them conAststh- and the
m•thod$ arKI prfndplm In th• Charftles SORP.
Make adjustments and e8Umatss that ore mgonable and prudent Statr whether
appli(3ble aCC(￿ntIng standards have been followed, subject to 'any matsrlal
dePa￿re5 dlsdosed and explained In the flnandal statsments.
Prepare the lknandal statemerts on the golng conc•m bag15 It Is
approwlate to Fnsume thatthe charlty wlll contlnue In bu91nes&

reawnable accuracy at any tlme the Ilnanaal posltion of the charlty and to enable
thwn to enswe that tho lknandal statOrn￿ compty wlth the Charftles Act 1993, the
Charfty (Affounts and regulatlons 2008 and the wovl8long of the Tnwt deod.
Thw arn akn r•spondble for saf•guardlng the assets of the charfty and herKe tsldng
reasonable stsp3 fDrthe orrfj detectlon of ftaud WKI other Irwilarftle&
The Trustees for the purposes of Charfty law who semd durfng the perfod and up to
the dats of thi5 W are sat out pago 4 oftsts rgporL
oved by th• Tnmtees and slgned on thelr bthlf ty.
Anthony Mathl880n Ivke Chlr) Datad: 08.05.2022

Independent examlnevs statement
I vA*h gfves me reasonable caus• to bdlqva that kn any materfal r•ycl th• t￿￿ta8&
h•v• not mat the raqulrem*ts to ensure that
FKOPW aCC￿th￿ records are kept In accorda￿ wlth sectlDn 130 of the Charfues
A¢and
. .acc4xints are prepared whlch agree wlth the accountlng rectyth and conwy wlth th•
accountlng Y¢qulrwnwtts of the Chwlkn Ac¢ or
2 to whlth. In my oplnlon. att*ttion slK>uld h drawn kn order to enable a proper
unde￿tarKlIng of the accounts to be r•achad.
Grahlm Darb￿rne FCA
TC Group
6 North Street
Oundl•
PE8 4AL

Independent Examlnerfs Reportto the Trustees
I rq>Nt on the accounts of Acllon for A8pwgerfs. tharlty number 1148790, forthe perfod
ended 30.Septrmber202L
Respectlve responsibilltles of trustees and examlner
The tharwq trustaes ar• respon81ble for the PreParath￿ of the account& The
trustees consld•r that an audlt18. not rewlred for thls pwlod under 8eckn 144 of the
CharftlesArt2011 the Charhles Acl arKI thatan l￿entex￿1nIkn Is neede(L
It Is my responslbllltyto:
• •xamlne the under gecdon 145 ofthe Charltles Act
• 4Dllow the FKoceduru 14ld dtswn In the Genernl Dlreckns gkn ty the Charfty
Commlsslon (under sectlon 145(5)(b) of th• Charltles Act): arKI
88sls of independent examinerfs statement
My examlnatlon was ¢xnled out In acC￿danC• wllh Genqrll Dlrecthns glven by the
Charfty Commlsslon. An •xamlnathJn Indudes a revlew of the accountTng records kept by
the charlty and a comparknn of the accounts presented wlth those record& ft also
Includ￿ conskleratlon of any unusual ltsms or dlsclosures In the accounty and geekl
Gxplanations from you the trustO95 concemlng any suth mattws. The procedures
undertaken do provldo all the evidwK• that would be requlred In an audll and
consequently no oplnlon Is gIV￿ as ts whethff the accounts presart a *rue and falrf
4 and the report Is Ilmlted to those matter5 Set out In the statement bdow.

31716
3¥
aJ
1$7VJ
31M6

14146
4J
47J37
147
19.gQ
70Ji•
&94J
Il+.S. 22

i&
IJ
019
IlJ2&

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