## **INSTITUTE OF RECOVERY FROM CHILDHOOD TRAUMA (IRCT)** ## **CHARITY NUMBER 1156924** ## **ANNUAL RETURN TO THE CHARITY COMMISSION** ## **REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT** **FOR THE PERIOD DECEMBER 1[ST] 2022 TO MAY 31[ST] 2024** ## **INSTITUTE OF RECOVERY FROM CHILDHOOD TRAUMA** ## **REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES** ## **FOR THE PERIOD DECEMBER 1ST 2022 TO MAY 31 ST 2024** ## **Introduction** IRCT was registered with Company House (Company Number 08786935) on 22.11.13. as a charitable company. On 31.08.24 IRCT changed it status to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation with voting members other than its charity trustees (Charity Number 1156924) The Trustees adopted the new CIO constitution ## **Trustees** The existing trustees resigned and were reappointed following the change of registration in accordance with the CIO Constitution and their appointments will be put to the membership at the next AGM for adoption. The trustees during the period 01.12.22 and 31.05.24 and to the date of this report were: Mr GJG McAllister Mrs S Duncan Mr J Reid Mr J Fayle Mr A Palmer Mrs ES Darton Mr C Bennett ## **Registered Office** The charities registered office address is: Office 1 Shrieves Walk Stratford upon Avon Warwickshire CV37 6GJ ## **Structure, governance and management** - _a) Constitution_ The charity was registered as a charitable company limited by guarantee and was set up by a Memorandum and Articles of Association and became a registered charity on 22 November 2013. The trustees got the approval of the membership to change the registration structure and the charity became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation with voting members other than its charity trustees in accordance with a CIO constitution on 31.08.23 - _b) Method of appointment or election of trustees_ The management of the charitable company is the responsibility of the trustees who are elected and co- opted under the terms of the Constitution - _c) Policies adopted for the induction and training of trustees_ New Trustees are on appointment supplied with copies of all documents necessary and relevant guidance in order for them to understand their role. All Trustees have been chosen with a view of them providing the charitable company with a range of skills expedient to setting up, developing and managing the running of the Institute of Recovery from Childhood Trauma (IRCT). - _d) Organisation structure and decision making_ The Board of Trustees meets monthly and between board meetings, necessary decisions taken and actions are the responsibility of the Chair. - _e) Risk assessment_ The trustees have assessed the major risks to which the charitable organisation is exposed, in particular those related to the operations and finances of the charity and are satisfied that systems and procedures are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks. ## **Objectives and activities** The objects of the Charity are as follows: *For the public benefit, to relieve the needs of and promote the mental and physical health of people who have suffered childhood trauma with particular focus on their recovery from that trauma, and - For the public benefit to promote the education of the public and professionals and specialists in the field of childhood trauma on issues relating to the mental and physical health of (children and young) people who have suffered childhood trauma, including through undertaking or promoting research and making useful the results of such available to the public. For the purposes of these objects "childhood trauma" may include (but is not limited to) sexual, physical and emotional abuse and neglect or exposure to domestic violence and war experiences. ## **Achievements and Performance** ## _Trustees_ We have been fortunate in maintaining a strong core group of trustees during this period although we have lost two trustees who found that they could no longer find the necessary time to retain the role. We are continuing our search to fill some of our skill gaps on the Board of Trustees. All our trustees are active in taking a lead in their area of expertise and assuming responsibility for delivering on our objectives. We have the ongoing support of our Patron Baroness Butler Sloss who has generously extended her tenure repeatedly while we search for another Patron from the House of the Lords. However, we are delighted that Munira Wilson, Liberal Democrat MP for Twickenham & Whitton, has agreed to become a Patron and support our links with the House of Commons. These links enable us to hold events in the House of Lords and also facilitate our lobbying activities to improve services for traumatised children. ## _Lobbying_ In July 2023, we were appointed as the Secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Childhood Trauma which offers us the opportunity, together with other likeminded organisations, to bring issues to the attention of MPs from all the political parties and gain support for policy changes. We have organised three meetings to date during 2023. The initial meeting in July 2023 was an AGM and introduction on the impact of trauma and the work of IRCT and, in particular, our proposals to the Children’s Social Care Review. The second meeting was in November 2023 when professionals with expertise in early years, education, social care, children’s mental health and youth justice shared views on the cost of unresolved childhood trauma both to the individuals’ concerned and the cost to society financially and with respect to lost potential. In March 2024, a further meeting focused on what is needed in education policy and practice to prevent childhood trauma and promote recovery. Three events per year are planned going forward. We have been very active in our other lobbying activities in collaboration with many other national children’s charities to promote awareness of the needs of vulnerable and traumatised children and the necessity for all services working with children to be better informed and supported to meet these needs. It is our intention to continue to grow these links to enable us to have a louder voice and hopefully more impact. We are currently actively involved alongside others in working with the Department for Education to modify the Statutory Guidance for the provision of Mental Health Services for children in Care and Care Leavers, most of whom have been traumatised. Our campaign to reduce and work towards the complete lack of any need to permanently exclude children from school is gathering momentum and there is now a growing groundswell of opinion that this is an issue that needs to be addressed urgently. The most recent statistics reveal that there were 9,400 permanent exclusions in 2022/23, a 44% increase since 2021-22. ## _Events_ We have continued to put on events both at the House of Lords and Online as part of our contribution to upskilling the workforce and we have provided some online training to specific organisations online by request. Our events at the House of Lords are free and therefore accessible but clearly limited in terms of numbers. Online events are easy to organise and can be offered at accessible rates but in person events are proving harder to organise as organisations appear to be investing less in training than was the case before COVID. There is a heavy reliance on online training which, while positive, is not the same as live events, which can provide more in terms of networking and gaining practical experience from workshops etc. We have had to postpone live events we have organised due to lack of take up and we are looking at ways of being able to offer a more accessible service. In 2023, we organised two Best Practice Forums at the House of Lords and one online event. In April 2023, following the publication of the last Government’s response to the Children’s Social Care Review, we organised a debate on Social Care Reform, looking at whether ‘Stable Homes Built on Love’ offered enough to help damaged children recover from trauma. Whilst it was accepted that a secure loving home is essential to help children thrive, it was the unanimous view of those present that much more needs to be available to help children heal and that professionals need to be trained and supported to deliver this. In July 2023, we held an event in collaboration with Mulberry Bush Residential School looking at ‘Developing best practice in Therapeutic Childcare’ and what is needed to upskill the workforce. We aim to capture the ideas that emerge from our Best Practice Forums and find ways to disseminate the information further. One example of this is the roundtable discussions we have been holding following a Best Practice Forum we held in November 2022 with the aim of establishing some shared principles services can use to help them assess what they are doing is making a positive impact towards helping the children in their care to recover. We are hoping to publish a paper on the results of this in the near future. ## _Going Forward_ We will be continuing all our activities and building on our successes to date. In addition, we are particularly excited about our decision to create a ‘Centre for Recovery from Childhood Trauma’ to ensure that recovery from childhood trauma is available for all children and young people. The Centre for Recovery from Childhood Trauma will aim to enhance the work of IRCT through: - Operating as a network which plays a key role in promoting and facilitating recovery from childhood trauma. - Encouraging inter-disciplinary research to advance knowledge to support recovery from childhood trauma. - Providing a hub dedicated to driving research collaborations between universities, organisations, professionals and individuals. - Disseminating accessible research. ## **INSTITUTE OF RECOVERY FROM CHILDHOOD TRAUMA** ## **FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR PERIOD 01.12.22 TO 31.05.24** ## **Balance at 1.12.22 7093.86** ## **Transactions from 1.12.22 - 31.5.24** |**Income**||**Expenditure**|| |---|---|---|---| |**Item**|**Amoun**
**t**|**Item**|**Amoun**
**t**| |Conference/WorkshopReceipts|868.02|Business Support|2466.94| |MembershipSubscriptons|4770.00|Website Hostngand Support(Wordpress)|288.00| |Donatons|492.71|Zoom Subscripton|527.88| |||Bank fees Paypal|84.54| |||Trustee expenses|524.66| |||Cateringcosts|300.90| ||||| ||||| |**Total**|**6130.73**|**Total**|**4192.92**| **Balance at 31.5.24 9031.67**