OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

← Renewed Hope Trust

2023-08-31-accounts

Renewed Hope Trust

A Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity Registration Number 1161502

Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements for the year ending 31[st] August 2023

Page 1 of 13

Page
Legal and Administrative Information 3
Report of the Trustees 4
Financial Statements 9
Independent Examiner’s Report 13

Page 2 of 13

Renewed Hope Trust

Report of the trustees for the year ending 31[st] August 2023

Legal and Administrative Information

Charity Name Renewed Hope Trust Charity Registration Number 1161502 Registered Office Shrewsbury Chapel, Shrewsbury Road, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 6BH

Trustees

Mr S Ferrar Chairman Mr D Buchan Treasurer Dr N Dodds Ms M Philipson Mr M Johnson Ms F Stehrenberg Mr G Knight

Mrs A Coe

Bankers

CAF Bank: 25 Kings Hill Avenue, West Malling, KENT, ME19 4JQ

Page 3 of 13

Aims and objectives

Our objectives are set out in full in our constitution. In brief they are

We aim to achieve these objectives through mobilising the churches of the area and other likeminded people to combat homelessness, unemployment, addiction, hunger, debt and social breakdown. In so doing we partner with specialist organisations in Surrey, helping our clients to engage with the help they require.

Monitoring

The trustees receive regular reports from the project co-ordinator and data is kept on our key performance indicators to assess our work for the benefit of our own development, for donors and for existing and potential grant makers.

Our Focus in the year under review

Renewed Hope is a local charity based in Redhill providing practical solutions and emotional support to the homeless, vulnerable and isolated of East Surrey. Renewed Hope aims to foster independence and improve the quality of life of our guests. 2022/23 was the busiest year for Renewed Hope since moving to Shrewsbury Chapel

The principal activities during the year were:

1. Daytime Drop-In

The main activity of Renewed Hope is the daytime Drop-in, which has been based at Shrewsbury Chapel, Shrewsbury Road, Redhill since January 2020. The Drop-in opens six days a week, 52 weeks a year, welcoming homeless, vulnerable and isolated people through its doors. The Drop-in is open to all, and our guests do not need a referral or go through an assessment process before coming in. Instead, they will be welcomed by one of the volunteers on that day and offered a hot drink and a free freshly cooked lunch. Our teams of volunteers create a safe, friendly environment, where all our guests can relax and enjoy being accepted as part of a community.

Our guests can also seek one-to-one help and support from our support worker, or from another member of the small staff team that is based at the Drop-in. This can be about specific issues such as housing, benefits, and health, as well as just offering a safe space and time for someone to talk. The support worker can help our guests identify where they need help and link them in with specialist agencies where required.

About 40% of Renewed Hope’s guests were homeless on the night before coming to the Drop-in; sleeping on the street, in a tent, in a car or on someone’s floor. When they come to Renewed Hope they can warm up, have a shower, get a change of clothes, and their own clothes washed, recharge their phones and enjoy a nutritious meal. Renewed Hope’s support worker can help them contact the housing team, or other services they may need. We are in close contact with the commissioned Homelessness Outreach Team – East Surrey Outreach Service – working together to best support the person and get them housed as soon as possible.

Page 4 of 13

2. Hope House – supported accommodation for homeless men

Renewed Hope opened its first house in February 2022. The house was purchased by Green Pastures (a national charity which buys property for churches and charities to house homeless people) and is leased from them by Renewed Hope.

The house provides temporary, shared accommodation for four men who have previously been homeless. The residents are housed on a licence through which they receive tailored support from Renewed Hope to help them become ready for independent living. The support is provided by the Renewed Hope support worker who splits their time between the house and the drop in.

Referrals for the house are made by Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, and by the outreach team. Over the year covered by this report, five people moved through the house, three of them moving on to more independent housing.

3. Winter support for homeless and vulnerable people

Renewed Hope has previously co-ordinated a Night Shelter project during the coldest months of the year – providing up to 14 beds in church halls from December to March. Unfortunately, the Covid restrictions imposed in March 2020 meant that this service could not run for the following two years. We monitored the numbers of homeless people coming to Drop-in over the winter of 2022/2023, and it became clear that there was still a need for this type of emergency provision. Following consultation with local borough councils, it was decided to restart the Winter Night Shelter for eleven weeks from 13/12/2023 to 29/02/2024.

4. Strategy development

At the start of 2021, the Trustees set a Five-Year plan consisting of three strands – Collaboration, Professionalism and Year-round Accommodation. Further progress has been made on all of these during the financial year 2022-23.

a. Collaboration

As stated in our strategy, our approach at Renewed Hope is to partner with other local organisations before providing services independently. This approach has led to strong relationships and effective working in all areas.

a) Services to guests have been provided in collaboration with other agencies; East Surrey Outreach Service (ESOS) refer the rough sleepers they work with to Renewed Hope for practical support, and often organise follow up meetings at the Drop-in rather than on the streets. We have now agreed a joint working protocol with ESOS.

Health support is facilitated by Alliance for Better Care, who offer health checks and vaccinations to older people, and to homeless people. They hold regular clinics at Renewed Hope. At one of these, they were joined by the Hepatitis C Trust who offered screening and treatment support.

b) Sharing resources: Every week the Renewed Hope is used by Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous and Smart Recovery Groups. LoveWorks, a local food bank charity, now operate from here every Thursday afternoon.

Page 5 of 13

c) Partnership with the community: Renewed Hope works with several local churches in the delivery of the Winter Night Shelter. Ten churches in Redhill, Reigate, Horley and Merstham have committed to being venues for the Night Shelters, each providing use of a church hall and kitchen one night a week.

d) Joint work with Community Organisations: Over the last year Renewed Hope has been linking up with community events and organisations to increase awareness of the issue of Homelessness and need, and to raise awareness of and support for Renewed Hope. These have included Bletchfest Artists and Artisans Fair, New Music Nights, Run Reigate, Redhill and Reigate Choral Society and Reigate Business Guild (Reigate Christmas Fayre). We also organised a Choirs, Carols and Collection Day at the Belfry Shopping Centre in December.

e) Developing relationships with businesses: Renewed Hope has benefited from the support of local businesses – both smaller businesses located in Reigate and Redhill, and national (and even international) companies with offices in the area. Some have encouraged their teams to volunteer for a day or two at Drop-in, and others have made donations, either from their own schemes, or from the fundraising efforts of their staff. We look forward to developing more of these relationships in the future.

b. Professionalism

a) INFORM : We continue to work on the implementation of INFORM - a client database that has been developed specifically for agencies working in the homelessness sector. All guests who attended Drop-in have been entered on to the client database, and each visit recorded.

Following training on report writing we have developed bespoke reports for the Trustees meetings, and we are now able to produce reliable, up to date information for fundraising and publicity. Our next step is to tailor INFORM further to allow us to capture and report on client needs, their progress, and outcomes. We are also considering using it to record volunteer attendance.

b) Safeguarding Training: We have been reviewing our policy and practice in relation to Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults, and are now extending our Safeguarding training programme to include Volunteer Team Leaders.

c. Year-round Accommodation

We opened our first supported accommodation unit in February 2022. There are no plans to open further properties soon, however we are mindful of the wider need for further supported accommodation units for single people in the local area.

Achievements and Performance – Public Benefit

The day-time Drop-in in Redhill remained as busy and needed as ever. This year we welcomed 221 guests (a 40% increase from last year), offering over 4,500 meals during the year.

At least 89 of our guests were homeless when they first came to Renewed Hope, sleeping in tents, shop doorways, underground car parks, bin stores and on the streets. This is an increase of 35% on last year’s figure of 66.

Page 6 of 13

We support increasing numbers of people with significant and complex support needs. We estimate that over a third of our guests have a history of mental health problems, and a quarter have addiction problems. We have also seen numbers of refugees who had previously been housed in hotels as asylum seekers, but had to move out, often at short notice, once their case had been accepted, and they were given leave to remain.

The value of our dedicated Support and Recovery Worker post (created in May 2021) was again made evident as we can offer consistent and proactive help, addressing a wide range of needs. The challenge in 2022/23 was ensuring that the support needs of people in the day centre and the people in the supported house were consistently met. Over the year we reviewed the support structure – deliberating between two part time support worker posts, or one full time post working across both sites. We concluded that having one person in post allowed us to respond flexibly to the demands of the guests in the house, while our teamwork ensured consistent support to guests at Drop-in and back up to the volunteer teams.

None of this could happen without our amazing team of volunteers. Over the last year 103 people have volunteered at Drop-in with others helping with fundraising and organising events. The volunteer teams offer a warm welcome and ensure guests are offered a hot meal, a shower, clothing, support with form filling, and endless cups of tea.

Financial Review

The charity made a surplus on unrestricted funds of £67,556 in the financial year, compared with a deficit of £24,537 in the previous year (2021-22).

Donations from individuals increased by 13% and from other organisations (local business, trusts, etc) by 109%, compared with the previous year, although donations from churches fell by 18%. The fundraising committee continues to explore new sources of finance in order to broaden its funding base, including attracting more corporate donations. There has been significant investment in fundraising activities, including £1,013 to participate in Run Reigate and £192 for loo hire at the Big Sleepout. Income from events includes £5,591 from the Big Sleepout; £1,249 from the ‘Grand Depart’ (Dash to the Med); £4,954 from the New Music Festival; £790 from a Harlequin History event; and £700 from a dog show.

The trustees designated £60,000 of funds raised during 2019-20 as a strategic development fund, to help the charity develop new services. The charity continues to draw on these funds to employ a support worker to provide direct support and activities to its clients.

In 2021-22, the charity received a grant of £22,491 from the Government’s Winter Transformation Fund to help it develop alternative models of supporting the homeless other than the traditional floating winter night shelter. Expenditure from this grant was incurred in 2020-21. Built into the Winter Transformation Fund bid was an assumption that we would receive £6,682 from Reigate and Banstead Council by way of Housing Benefit payments on behalf of the guests for the first 4 months of operation of Hope House. This income stream was delayed as discussions with the council continued. We started to receive payments from the council in 2022-23 and this has eliminated the deficit shown on the restricted fund at 31 August 2022.

We have now been receiving Housing Benefit payments from the council, including a backlog due from the previous year. Discussions are continuing on the level of housing benefit payable. Until this issue is resolved, we are paying a lower rate of rent to Green Pastures, who acquired Hope

Page 7 of 13

House on our behalf, reflecting our actual costs and revenue from operating Hope House rather than the original agreement with Green Pastures. These rental payments are shown under Hope House operating costs. As at 31 August 2023, rent statements from Green Pastures show a balance owed of £14,746, being the difference between the amounts payable under the original agreement and the amounts actually paid pending resolution of the Housing Benefit issue.

The major works in getting Hope House ready for use were completed in the previous year. The £8,403 shown as premises costs includes some ongoing maintenance work on the property, as well as Council Tax and utility costs.

The trustees have adopted a reserves policy which calls for unrestricted reserves to be maintained at a level equivalent to three months’ unrestricted expenditure (approximately £40,000 based on 2022-23 expenditure). The level of total reserves held at 31 August 2023 (£170,526) was significantly above this, which provides for contingency in the event of a downturn in donations and other income.

The trustees consider that the charity remains a going concern.

Governance

The charity is governed by its founding document. Trustees are appointed for fixed terms which may be up to 4 years. They can then be re-appointed for a further term if willing to stand. All of the trustees appointed have been from supporting churches or from amongst those who have been volunteer workers or those who are registered on our database as supporters.

The charity’s income is below the level that would require a formal audit of the accounts; but the accounts have been subject to independent examination by a suitably qualified person.

This report has been approved by the trustees at their meeting on 17 June 2024 and is signed on their behalf by the Chairman.

Mr. Sam Ferrar

Chairman

Date: 17 June 2024

Page 8 of 13

Renewed Hope Trust Registered charity number 1161502

STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS for the year ended 31 August 2023

RECEIPTS
Voluntary receipts
Individuals
Churches
Councils
Other organisations
Fundraising events
Shrewsbury Chapel: Rent received
Hope House: Rent received
Bank interest
Other Receipts
TOTAL RECEIPTS
PAYMENTS
Salaries and Wages
Staff training and expenses
Rental: Drop-in and Chapel
Drop-in Activity
Other Activities
Shrewsbury Chapel: premises costs
Hope House: Premises Costs
Hope House: Operating Costs
Administrative Costs
Cost of generating receipts
TOTAL PAYMENTS
NET RECEIPTS/(PAYMENTS)		 2022-23
Restricted
Funds
1,000
-
6,682
-
-
7,682
-
1,000 -
-

-
1,000
6,682		 2022-23
Unrestricted
Funds
61,065
6,351
3,573
62,372
33,449
4,858
45,241
1,214
-
218,123
85,149
1,274
1,930
9,699
541
7,285
8,403
25,218
14,159
3,591
157,249
60,874		 2022-23
Total
£
61,065
6,351
4,573
62,372
33,449
4,858
51,923
1,214
-
225,805
85,149
1,274
1,930
10,699
541
7,285
8,403
25,218
14,159
3,591
158,249
67,556		 2021-22
Total
£
53,960
7,795
24,131
29,788
-
3,080
643
74
265
119,736
83,692
1,311
2,452
14,200
1,457
1,797
15,829
13,736
15,005
1,476
150,955
(31,219)

STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES as at 31 August 2023

Cash funds:
Current Accounts
Deposit Accounts
Paypal Account
Soldo Account
TOTAL
Represented by:
Unrestricted Funds
Restricted Funds

TOTAL FUNDS		 31 August 2023
£
15,751
150,864
131
3,780
170,526
170,526
-
170,526		 31 August 2022
£
3,589
96,055
49
3,277
102,970
109,652
(6,682)
102,970

Page 9 of 13

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

1. Basis of accounting

The accounts have been prepared on the ‘Receipts and Payments’ basis and in accordance with the Charities Act 2011.

2. Receipts from individuals include Gift Aid recovered.

3. Transactions with trustees

The charity has made no payments to trustees. Donations by trustees were £490 (2021-22: £480).

4. Analysis of Movement in funds

1 September
2022
£
Restricted Funds
Winter Transformation Fund(6,682)
Fuel Poverty Support
-
(6,682)
Unrestricted Funds
Designated Funds
36,705
General Funds
72,947
109,652
1 September
2021
£
Restricted Funds
Winter Transformation Fund-
Unrestricted Funds
Designated Funds
54,740
General Funds
79,449
134,189		 Receipts
£
6,682
1,000
7,682

-
218,123		 Payments
Transfers
£
£
-
-
(1,000)
-
(1,000)
-
(25,174)
-
(132,075)
-
(157,249)
-
Payments
Transfers
£
£
(29,173)
-
(18,035)
-
(103,747)
-
(121,782)
**- **		 31 August
2023
£
-
-----------
-
11,531
158,995
170,526
31 August
2022
£
(6,682)
36,705
72,947
109,652
218,123
Receipts
£
22,491

-
97,245
97,245

Page 10 of 13

A restricted fund was opened in 2021-22 when the charity received a grant of £22,491 from the Winter Transformation Fund. The budgeted expenditure agreed with the Council was £29,173 which was spent on various items to develop the services provided by the charity, including initial costs of establishing Hope House. It was assumed that these costs would be partly met from initial payments of Housing Benefit on behalf of guests staying at Hope House (£6,682). No such payments had been received as at 31 August 2022, and so the deficit in this restricted fund was cleared by using the first £6,682 of receipts in 2022-23.

A £1,000 council grant was received for fuel poverty support, and spent on this purpose in the year.

Designated funds, originally comprising two large gifts of £60,000, continued to be spent on the salary of a support worker.

5. Analysis of Prior Year Receipts and Payments by funds

RECEIPTS
Voluntary receipts
Individuals
Churches
Councils
Other organisations
Shrewsbury Chapel: Rent received
Hope House: Rent received
Bank interest
Other Receipts
TOTAL RECEIPTS
PAYMENTS
Salaries and Wages
Staff training and expenses
Rental: Drop-in and Chapel
Drop-in Activity
Other Activities
Shrewsbury Chapel: premises costs
Hope House: Premises Costs
Hope House: Operating Costs
Administrative Costs
Cost of generating receipts
TOTAL PAYMENTS
NET RECEIPTS/(PAYMENTS)		 2021-22
Restricted
Funds
-
22,491
-
-
-
-
-
22,491
8,038
240
-
-
-

6,136
8,358
6,401
-
29,173
(6,682)		 2021-22
Unrestricted
Funds
53,960
7,795
1,640
29,788
3,080
643
74
265
97,245
75,654
1,071
2,452
14,200
1,457
1,797
9,693
5,378
8,604
1,476
121,782
(24,537)		 2021-22
Total
£
53.960
7,795
24,131
29,788
3,080
643
74
265
119,736
83,692
1,311
2,452
14,200
1,457
1,797
15,829
13,736
15,005
1,476
150,955
(31,219)









6. Staff costs

No staff received remuneration in excess of £60,000.

The average number of staff employed was 4 (2021-22: 4).

Page 11 of 13

TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES IN RELATION TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Charity law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which comply with the regulations set out in the Charities Act 2011. The Trustees have elected to take advantage of the provisions that apply to small charities and have prepared a Receipts and Payments account and a Statement of Assets and Liabilities.

The trustees have approved these financial statements.

Signed on behalf of the Trustees.

Mr. Sam Ferrar

Chairman

Date: 17 June 2024

Page 12 of 13

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF RENEWED HOPE TRUST

I report on the accounts of the Trust for the year ended 31 August 2023 which are set out on pages 9 to 11.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under Section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the Act), and that there is no requirement in the governing document or constitution of the Charity for the conducting of an audit. As a consequence, the trustees have elected that the financial statements be subject to independent examination.

Having satisfied myself that the charity is not subject to audit under company law and is eligible for an independent examination, it is my responsibility to:

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 you as 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 below.

Independent examiner's report

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

Signed: W Fry

Wendy Fry

Date: 19/6/24

Page 13 of 13