The LATH Lookin orated Or after the Homeless Grou istered Charit No. 1157729 Charitable Incor anisation Re Receipts and Payment Account Year Ended 31.12.22 Year Ended 31.12.23 Income: Donations Donations Gift Aided Deposit Account Interest Collection Boxes Fundraising Friends Friends Gift Aided Rent from Duncan Walker Sale of Unwanted Clothes Gift Aid Refund Grants 1261 720 19 487 1319 11 560.00 182.73 307.67 1415.85 635.00 iioo.00 30.00 7.00 442,94 9498.00 £15,498.30 1377 487 1154 346 9100 £14,951 Expenditure: Administration Costs Post & Phone Stationery Printing &Web Funding Raising Expenses IT Expenses Insurance Repairs to Equipment Equipment Retirement Gifts Sundry Expenses Money Stolen Bank Charges Mileage 26 97 82 58 401 289 609 13.65 262.72 72.50 54.99 415.08 70.59 285.00 97.85 221.60 53.00 79.09 240.70 144 79 520 £2,305 1866.77 Homeless Aid Misc Aid to Individuals Mise Aid by Pathways Drop in Centre Rent Drop in Centre Running Costs Donation to Other Charities 411 1737.85 3520.00 5200.08 1014.69 0.00 966 246 8422 £10,045 £12,350 2601 11472.62 Total Expenses In year Surplus/Deflcit Balances at bank at 1.1.23 Balances at bank & in hand at 31.12.23 Bank Current Account Deposit Account Cash Prepared by P B Gardner - Treasurer Date. £13,339.39 2158.91 24367.63 £26,526.54 21767 £24,368 12296.54 14194.61 35.39 £26,526.54 v Mr M Spooner- Acc Audi unta
St Mary’s Caritas Centre 65 Delamare St Crewe CW1 2JX
The LATH Group (Looking After The Homeless) Charity Number: 1157729
TRUSTEES REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER 2023
0800 508 8021 lathsecretary@gmail.com
facebook.com/LATHcrewe twitter.com/LATH_Group
Page 1 of 7
St Mary’s Caritas Centre 65 Delamare St Crewe CW1 2JX
The LATH Group (Looking After The Homeless) Charity Number: 1157729
Table of Contents
| Table of Contents | |
|---|---|
| 1. | Charity Information ................................................................................................... 3 |
| 2. | Trustee report for the year ended 31st December 2023 ............................................... 4 |
0800 508 8021 facebook.com/LATHcrewe lathsecretary@gmail.com twitter.com/LATH_Group
Page 2 of 7
St Mary’s Caritas Centre 65 Delamare St Crewe CW1 2JX
The LATH Group (Looking After The Homeless) Charity Number: 1157729
1. Charity Information
Registered Name
The LATH (Looking After The Homeless) Group
Operating Name LATH Registered Charity Number 1157729 Registered address St Mary’s Caritas Centre, 65 Delamere St, Crewe, CW1 2JX Correspondence address The Secretary, St Mary’s Caritas Centre, 65 Delamere St, Crewe, CW1 2JX Operating address St Mary’s Caritas Centre, 65 Delamere Street, Crewe, CW1 2JX
Trustees Bernard Potter (President)
Pat Gardner (Treasurer)
Barbara Francis (Secretary) John McManus Joan Walton
Independent examiner
Michael Spooner 137 Longton Hall Road, Blurton, Stoke On Trent, ST3 2EL
Bankers
Co-operative Bank, 3 Earle Street, Crewe, CW1 2BS
0800 508 8021 lathsecretary@gmail.com
facebook.com/LATHcrewe twitter.com/LATH_Group
Page 3 of 7
St Mary’s Caritas Centre 65 Delamare St Crewe CW1 2JX
The LATH Group (Looking After The Homeless) Charity Number: 1157729
2. Trustee report for the year ended 31st December 2023
Constitution
The LATH (Looking After The Homeless) Group is a Charitable Incorporated Company (CIO). The charity operates under the working name of LATH.
Charitable objects
The object of the CIO is to relieve poverty and sickness among homeless and disadvantaged people in the Crewe and Nantwich and surrounding areas by the provision of assistance, facilities, goods, services and other support.
Organisation
Our model of the charity structure continues to be refined based on volunteer skills and available time, with specific responsibilities for roles, and an improved budgeting system. Our monthly Executive Committee meeting enables us to discuss any issues raised during our client sessions.
Members of the board of Trustees at the year-end were:
-
Bernard Potter (President and acting Chairman)
-
John McManus (Chairman – currently on sick leave)
-
Pat Gardner (Treasurer)
-
Barbara Francis (Secretary)
-
Joan Walton
Members of the Board of Trustees are appointed in accordance with the governing constitution and are approved each year at the Annual General Meeting.
There are no paid staff and we are lucky to have a group of around twenty regular volunteers who are dedicated to the objective of the charity and without whom we would not be able to operate. The value of the contribution by volunteers is not recorded in the accounts.
Activities during 2023
We have been running our twice-weekly drop-in centre at the St Mary’s Caritas Centre, and have provided our clients with breakfast and lunch, and advice and referrals for homelessness, welfare, benefits, employer issues, tax queries, tenancy issues and financial hardship. We work closely with other charities in the area, and with the local council Homeless and Outreach team, to find the best solution for those disadvantaged people who are sleeping rough or sofa surfing. We regularly provide our clients with tents and sleeping bags, and with clothing and toiletries. We have a lot of Polish clients, and our Polish-speaking volunteers have assisted numerous clients with benefits, tax, medical and housing queries and completing and interpreting forms.
We have shower facilities at our drop-in centre, which is much appreciated by rough sleepers.
| 0800 508 8021 | facebook.com/LATHcrewe |
|---|---|
| lathsecretary@gmail.com | twitter.com/LATH_Group |
Page 4 of 7
St Mary’s Caritas Centre 65 Delamare St Crewe CW1 2JX
The LATH Group (Looking After The Homeless) Charity Number: 1157729
In December 2022 we started a collaboration for one year, supported by a grant from a local company, with a social prescribing provider. Pathways CIC is a social enterprise that delivers a range of health, work and wellbeing programmes designed to create sustainable change for individuals and for local communities, with a focus on enabling people to live happier and healthier lives. The Pathways team spoke to 43 individuals on 63 occasions, giving advice and signposting for debt, benefits, medical issues, official letter explanations and welfare concerns.
During 2023 we have hosted a member of the Disability Information Bureau, who has assisted several clients with disability benefit and PIP claims. He attends on a weekly basis, and it is hoped that this will continue into 2024.
Planned activities for 2024
LATH will continue to run a drop-in centre twice a week for homeless, vulnerable and lonely people. We will use food donations from local retailers to provide clients with a hot lunch, with surplus food to take away. We plan to use financial donations and grants on other important issues for our customers, such as passport and ID replacement costs, travel costs, and buying essential supplies such as tents, backpacks and sleeping bags. We also plan to obtain grants to fund activities for our clients, such as a community garden and a pool table.
We will continue to provide a wide range of advice and assistance in the areas of benefits, support services, housing and employment.
We will continue to have computer facilities with three free-to-use computers and printing services where required. This is particularly helpful when helping clients with creating and printing CVs.
As well as continuing to provide shower facilities, we hope to also be able to launder clothes for our rough-sleeping clients.
Statistics (from January 2023 to December 2023)
LATH volunteers provided the following support both in drop-in sessions and outside of drop-in hours:
-
137 individuals welcomed over 2286 visits for warm space, drinks and food,
-
300 hours of drop-in resource time available over the year
-
A minimum 3000 volunteer hours were provided during the year at the centre (excluding significant time spent outside of the drop-in and also in liaising with other local charitable organisations and Cheshire East Housing Options)
-
70% were men; 92% were >30 years
0800 508 8021 facebook.com/LATHcrewe lathsecretary@gmail.com twitter.com/LATH_Group
Page 5 of 7
St Mary’s Caritas Centre 65 Delamare St Crewe CW1 2JX
The LATH Group (Looking After The Homeless) Charity Number: 1157729
-
12 individuals were sleeping rough; 18 were sofa surfing and 17 were in hostel accommodation
-
45 (33%) individuals of the client list were Polish. We were able to provide excellent support to our Polish clients because we have two Polish-speaking volunteers, who often also helped this diaspora outside of the drop-in hours.
-
18 individuals are from other countries, including Romania, Greece, East Timor, Sierra Leone
-
70 individuals were provided with advice/referral on 263 occasions
-
22% of help was giving advice/help on benefits; >20% was providing clothing, sleeping bags or tents; 17% was advice on housing/accommodation
-
The next highest types of support provided were on: general welfare (12%); medical help (10%); debt advice (10%); help with translating/interpreting letters or telephone calls (10%); and help with completing forms (7%)
-
We helped and funded 7 individuals with obtaining/renewing ID or passports and helped 5 people with their settled status applications
-
Help was provided to clients on 75 occasions outside of the drop-in times for 29 individuals, mostly for telephone/translation help (23%); general welfare advice (23%); benefits advice (17%); help with forms completion (12%) and accompanying individuals to, or making, medical appointments (12%)
Free Helpline
For those wishing to contact LATH, we have a Freephone number (0800 508 8021) that directs callers appropriately. The Freephone number is managed by a sponsor company.
Income generation
During the year, we held a quiz night and concert to boost our funds. We have managed to continue as a charity through generous ad hoc donations. Our only source of regular income is through Friends of LATH, who donate either monthly or annually, much of which is gift-aided. Some income is derived from collection boxes in local shops.
Towards the end of the year, we heard that local musicians would donate proceeds from a Christmas album to LATH. We will receive this donation in 2024.
We plan to hold a concert and a quiz night in 2024, and hold a tombola stall at a summer fayre to further boost our income. We will also hold a Christmas raffle.
Resources expended
Costs during 2023 were mainly rent for the drop-in premises, food top-up costs, essential items for rough sleepers, insurance, and payments for documentation and travel for our clients. We had a grant from a local company to pay for Pathways, the social prescribers.
| 0800 508 8021 | facebook.com/LATHcrewe |
|---|---|
| lathsecretary@gmail.com | twitter.com/LATH_Group |
Page 6 of 7
St Mary’s Caritas Centre 65 Delamare St Crewe CW1 2JX
The LATH Group (Looking After The Homeless) Charity Number: 1157729
Governance and internal control
The Trustees take very seriously their overall responsibility to ensure the charity has appropriate systems to control and inspect Finances, Insurance, Health and Safety, Food Hygiene, Safeguarding and all statutory requirements. All volunteers advising clients obtain DBS clearance. New Trustees undergo Trustee training provided by our local CVS. Kitchen workers undertake basic food hygiene training.
GDPR implementation
The Trustees implement GDPR regulations to the files that contain sensitive data. Accordingly, such files are password protected and access to them is limited to the people who have the login and password. Computer use by registered people is password protected, and files are password protected in two stages. In addition, memory sticks are not used on laptops to prevent copying of data by unauthorised people.
The Future
We look forward to growing and adapting our charity to fulfil our mission and charitable objective, especially given the current hardships, which are expected to worsen even further during 2024.
0800 508 8021 facebook.com/LATHcrewe lathsecretary@gmail.com twitter.com/LATH_Group
Page 7 of 7