2025-03-31-accounts - Home-Start London

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Home-Start London

(Charity number: 1161629)

Trustees’ report and financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2025

Home-Start London Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2025

Reference and administrative information

Charity number	1161629
Business and registered office	Stephens House
	17 East End Road
	London
	N3 3QE
Trustees
	Jeannie Pitt – (Appointed Chair 11th November 2025)
	Julia Roberts (Former Chair resigned after approving this Trustees
	report and accounts at AGM 11th November 2025)
	Fran Boto
	Ian Jesnick
	Margaret O’Connor
	Lydia Lezama
	Priscilla Robinson (appointed 13 May 2025)
	Swati Patel (appointed 15 July 2025)
	Helen Blenkinsop (appointed 13 May 2025)
	Alison Cross (resigned 13 May 2025)
	Helen Anastasi (resigned 11th February 2025)
	Christina Smyth (resigned 31st December 2024)
	Karen Robertson (resigned 31st December 2024)
Treasurer	Raphael Harris
Accountant	Accountability Europe Limited
	Omnibus Workspace
	39-41 North Road
	London
	N7 9DP

Home-Start London Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2025

Home-Start London

Report of the Trustees for year ended 31 March 2025

Introduction

The board of trustees presents its report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the Memorandum and Articles of Association, and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with Financial Reporting Standard 102 (FRS 102).

Objectives and Activities

The objectives of Home-Start London (HSL) are to promote and facilitate the provision of Home-Start services throughout London, and in particular:

To research and provide funding opportunities for members that may not otherwise be accessible to them, enabling them, with support, to extend services in their area;
To provide a voice for and promote the work of members collectively, in London;
To apply for funds for projects to involve some or all members;
To raise the profile and awareness of the collective work of members, the extent and breadth of volunteer support, families reached and successful outcomes in London;
Using collective membership data to influence policy and strategic planning of children and health services in London;
To identify efficiencies through savings on back-office functions, training, marketing, and fundraising; and
To reach larger numbers of vulnerable families across London, in areas where a Home-Start service may not already exist.

HSL was established in 2015 with 14 London Home-Starts operating across 15 boroughs, our membership and operations have evolved, responding to new challenges and opportunities. Over the course of this year, HSL engaged and coordinated joint initiatives with 16 local Home-Start teams operating across 28 boroughs.

Achievements and Performance

This year our network of local Home-Starts across London continued to provide vital support to families facing their toughest times. 923 trained Home-Start volunteers and 168 skilled staff supported over 7000 families including 8000 children. Through a combination of home-visiting and groups, local teams provided compassionate, community-based support tailored to the specific needs of each family. The proven HomeStart model resulted in positive outcomes for children and families: 91% of parents reported improved mental health, 88% felt less alone, and 84% felt more able to support their child’s development (HSL Family Survey, 2025).

During the year, local Home-Start teams continued to face significant pressures, including rising demand for their services, high operating costs, and contracting funding. With family needs becoming increasingly complex, teams adapted their support and developed new referral partnerships. In this context, Home-Start London’s small but mighty team focused on our core mission: to connect, strengthen and champion local Home-Starts across the capital so that together we can support more children and families.

Home-Start London Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2025

In line with our strategy, we supported local Home-Start teams by developing new partnerships, coordinating opportunities for peer support and shared learning, and raising collective voice to drive wider change for families. Our annual member survey reflected the impact of our work, with 100% of local Home-Start teams reporting that HSL had supported them to share learning and good practice, 71% to develop new partnerships, and 57% to improve organisational effectiveness. We share highlights from the year below.

Building new partnerships to sustain and extend Home-Start services to more London families.

We launched our new “Big Hopes, Big Future” programme supported by The Charity of Sir Richard Whittington as part of the Mercers’ Company’s Early Years Special Initiative. Through this programme we are working with two local Home-Starts to extend school readiness support to 400 disadvantaged children in Camden, Islington, Southwark, and Lewisham. Over four years, we will develop and share good practice and learning with the wider Home-Start network to support scale up. This year we successfully trained programme staff, built new early years partnerships, and integrated the Big Hopes, Big Futures curriculum into home visiting and groups with positive feedback from families.

We secured a new, four-year grant from the National Lottery Community Fund to sustain and grow our core work supporting local Home-Starts in London to become more sustainable, inclusive and influential. Over four years, we will co-design and deliver a tailored programme of support that builds organisational capacity, strengthens collaboration, and supports the development of new partnerships extending Home-Starts support to more families. In this first year of the grant, we recruited a new Coordinator and started new joint work in priority areas such as strengthening impact measurement and promoting equity, diversity and inclusion across the network.

We were proud to be Elite Landscape’s designated charity partner this year, supporting their fundraising efforts and staff volunteering including a successful project with Home-Start Greenwich, converting a disused outdoor space into a fantastic forest school where children are now able to play, explore and develop vital skills. We were grateful to receive a final donation from Berkeley Homes supporting Home-Start services in North East London. We brought together 80 Home-Start supporters to take part in a 5k/10k fundraiser event in Regents Park which raised over £33,000 for local Home-Starts. The event was a great success and will be repeated next year.

Sharing learning and supporting collaboration to ensure services best meet the evolving needs of London’s diverse communities.

We planned and prepared our second, London-wide volunteer recruitment campaign #My2Hours. Working in collaboration with Volunteer Managers and Communications Leads across the network, we developed and shared a range of communications assets to support volunteer recruitment throughout the year for an even more impactful campaign. These included a video message from Baroness Floella Benjamin and volunteer stories from several local Home-Starts.

Throughout the year, we facilitated our vibrant peer learning groups for Home-Start Volunteer Leads, Communication Leads and Managers across London. These groups provide a safe space to share ideas, skills and resources to address shared challenges in areas ranging from strategy and governance to social value and corporate fundraising to volunteer recruitment, development and retention. As one Manager reflected, “Sharing our learning helps us realise our blind spots and celebrate brilliant practice – it is also key to helping us work together to develop new partnerships.”

Raising profile and our collective voice in support of vulnerable London families.

Home-Start London Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2025

We ran our flagship annual London Family Voices research and campaign profiling the experiences of families with babies and young children in the capital. Conducted during the continued cost-of-living crisis, the research gathered responses from over 300 parents supported by local Home-Starts complemented by seven, in-depth interviews. Key concerns raised by parents included financial hardship, housing insecurity, their mental and physical health, and their child’s development. The research also captured valuable feedback on the impact of Home-Start support which local teams were able to use to support service design, fundraising and local influencing efforts.

Throughout the year, we worked with our network to amplify family voices and raise the profile of HomeStart in key forums. This included partnering with the Childhood Trust to create and screen "Unheard Voices”, a powerful film sharing the stories of two families, at the 2024 London Child Poverty Summit. As members of 4in10’s Policy Forum, we took part in a roundtable with the London Deputy Mayor to discuss the impact of deepening poverty and inequality for children and families. We showcased Home-Start’s volunteering model at the GLA’s Equity in Volunteering Forum and, as part of the Volunteer Strategy Group supported by the GLA and London Plus, helped shape and launch London’s new Vision for Volunteering.

Thanks to our partners

We would like to thank all our partners for their commitment and support for the work of Home-Start across London. Alongside our funding partnerships, we received valuable pro bono support from partners including Media Trust, Pro Bono Economics, the LSE Volunteer Centre, and ZSL London Zoo. In the current challenging operating environment, we are particularly grateful for this support. Continuing our efforts to build a sustainable funding base for HSL and our wider network of local Home-Starts across London remains a priority for the year ahead.

Public Benefit

The board of trustees confirms it has complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.

Structure, Governance and Management

Home-Start London became a CIO in May 2015. The governing documents are the Constitution and the Members Agreement. The board of trustees comprises of appointed trustees from the member schemes. Trustees bring skills and expertise to ensure the sound governance of the charity and representation of the member schemes. Trustees have overall responsibility for setting the strategy of the charity. The Director is responsible for delivering the strategy and for day-to-day operations.

Financial Review

During the 12-month period, the charity generated total incoming resources of £194,778 (2024: £188,953) and expended total resources of £182,348 (2024: £168,289). We continued to focus on developing our proposal pipeline, raising our profile and building new relationships, and rolling out our new membership fee model to help drive income growth.

As of 31 March 2025, Home-Start London held £122,170 (2024: £109,740) in total reserves. Of this, £69,289 (2024: £57,625) was held as general funds, £37,881 (2024 £32,115) was held as restricted and £15,000 (2024: £20,000) was designated by the trustees for the purpose of fundraising and business development to support the development of new funding partnerships for HSL.

Home-Start London Trustees’ Annual Report For the year ended 31 March 2025

Reserves Policy

The trustees review the reserves policy on an annual basis. It was agreed that unrestricted funds, which are the free reserves of the charity, should be set at a level that equates to approximately six to nine months of unrestricted expenditure (£55,400 - £83,000). This provides sufficient funds for management, administration and support costs. It also recognises the current challenging funding environment for HSL and our wider network. The unrestricted general funds at the end of the year were £69,289.

Statement of Trustees Responsibility

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

The law applicable to charities requires in England and Wales 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 charity for that period 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 apply them consistently
observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP 2019 (FRS 102)
make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent
state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards 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 charitable company will continue in business.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provision of the trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

This report was approved by the Board of Trustees on 11 November 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

..............................................................

Julia Roberts - Chair of Trustees

Home-Start London Independent Examiner’s Report For the year ended 31 March 2025

THE INDEPENDENT EXAMINER

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Home-Start London for the year ended 31 March 2025.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND BASIS OF REPORT

As the charity trustees of the CIO you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of the CIO’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S STATEMENT

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe:

accounting records were not kept in respect of the CIO as required by section 130 of the Act; or
the accounts do not accord with those records; or
the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 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 methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (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 to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

…………………………

Aamer Shehzad FCA

Accountability Europe Ltd Omnibus Workspace 39-41 North Road London N7 9DP Date: 1[st] December 2025

HOME-START LONDON

Statement of financial activities

(including summary income and expenditure account)

For the year ended 31 March 2025

2025 £ 55,342 Unrestricted	2025 £ 139,436 Restricted	2025 £ 194,778 Total	2024 £ 48,806 Unrestricted	2024 £ 140,147 Restricted	2024 £ 188,953 Total
55,342 48,678	139,436 133,671	194,778 182,348	48,806 38,111	140,147 130,178	188,953 168,289
48,678 6,664 -	133,671 5,765 -	182,348 12,430 -	38,111 10,695 -	130,178 9,969 -	168,289 20,664 -
6,664 77,625	5,765 32,115	12,430 109,740	10,695 66,930	9,969 22,146	20,664 89,076
84,289	37,881	122,170	77,625	32,115	109,740

HOME-START LONDON

Balance sheet

As at 31 March 2025

			2025	2024
	Note	£	£	£
Tangible assets
	9	935
			935	-
Current assets:
Debtors	10	-		-
Cash at bank and in hand		123,903		113,018
		123,903		113,018
Liabilities:
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year	11	(2,668)		(3,278)
		(2,668)		(3,278)
Net current assets			121,235	109,740
Total net assets	12a		122,170	109,740
Funds	8a
Restricted funds			37,881	32,115
Unrestricted funds:
General funds		69,289		57,625
Designated funds		15,000		20,000
			84,289	77,625
Total charity funds			122,170	109,740

Approved by the trustees on 11 November 2025 and signed on their behalf by:

…………………………………….

Julia Roberts Chair of Trustees

The attached notes form part of the financial statements.

HOME-START LONDON

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

1 Accounting policies

The principal accounting policies adopted in the preparation of the financial statements are set out below, and have been consistently applied within the accounts.

a) Basis of accounting

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis under the historical cost convention, modified to include certain items at fair value. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard 102 (FRS 102), the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP), Accounting and Reporting by Charities published in 2019 SOBP (FRS102) and applicable charity and company law. The charity has taken advantage of the reduced disclosure framework and has not prepared a Cash Flow statement.

The charity is exempted from preparing a cash flow statement due to exemption available to charities with income of less than £500,000.

b) Incoming Resources/ Income

Incoming resources are recognised an accruals basis. except that donations and legacies are recognised only upon receipt unless the donor advises otherwise. Grants and contracts are treated as income for the period to which the funder assigns the funds so matching the income for the period to which the funder assigns the funds with the associated costs of the services.

c) Charitable activities expenditure

Charitable activities consist of expenses incurred to further the company's aims and objectives of developing and maximising the effectiveness of the charity. Charitable expenditure includes the costs of training, sponsorship, grants and support to member organisations. The costs of liaising with member organisations, the preparation of directories, events and conference are included.

d) Stocks of materials and literature

Stocks of materials and literature are written off as incurred.

e) Going concern basis

The accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis.

f) VAT

Where appropriate expenditure includes irrecoverable value added tax.

g) Fund Accounting

Unrestricted funds are available for use in the furtherance of the charity's objectives. Restricted funds are subject to restrictions imposed by donors as set out in the notes to the accounts. Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular purposes.

h) Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost less residual value of each asset over its expected useful life, as follows'.

Computer equipment over 3 to 5 years

Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £1,000. Depreciation costs are allocated to activities on the basis ofthe use ofthe related assets in those activities.

i) Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid after taking account of any trade discounts due.

j) Creditors

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

HOME-START LONDON

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

2 ANALYSIS OF CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES INCOME

Unrestricted	2025 £	2024 £
General Fund	55,342	48,806
Total Unrestricted Restricted Berkeley Homes (North East London) Ltd Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust City Bridge Foundation Childhood Trust Children England National Lottery Community Fund The Charity of Sir Richard Whittington Total Restricted Total Income	55,342 - - 10,000 2,760 - 51,676 75,000 139,436 194,778
		48,806
		98,544 20,853 20,000 - 750 - -
		140,147

		188,953

HOME-START LONDON

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

3 EXPENDITURE

EXPENDITURE
Staff costs Legal and professional Independent Examination Office and admin Total Expenditure Support costs Project costs	Total Total 2025 2024 87,168 1,837 89,005 77,230 34,769 16,570 51,339 50,726 395 7,578 7,973 4,488 16,812 16,619 33,431 35,245 - 600 600 600 Charitable Activities Support costs
	139,144 43,204 182,348 168,289 43,204 (43,204) - -
	182,348 - 182,348 168,289

Of the total expenditure, £48,678 was unrestricted (2024: £38,111) and £133,671 was restricted (2024: £130,178).

4 STAFF COSTS

Staff costs were as follows: Salaries & SociaI Security costs Defined contribution pension costs Other staff costs	2025 2024 £ £ 46,714 48,462 2,336 2,264 2,289 -
	51,339 50,726

The average number of persons employed by the charity in the year was 2 person (2024: 2) The total amount of employee benefits received by key management personnel was £49,049 (2024: 39,829)

5 NET OPERATING SURPLUS/(DEFICIT)

The net operating surplus/(deficit) of income over expenditure is stated after charging:

Independent examination (excluding VAT) Depreciation	2025 2024 £ £ 600 600 151 -

6 TRUSTEES REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS

No Trustees had expenses reimbursed or paid directly in the year (2024 - Nil)

HOME-START LONDON

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

7 TAXATION

The charity is an exempt charity within the meaning of schedule 3 of the Charities Act 2011 and is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes.

8a MOVEMENT IN FUNDS

At the start of the year Income £ £ 57,625 55,342 20,000	Expenditure & loses £ (43,678) (5,000)	Transfers At the end of the year £ £ - 69,289 - 15,000
77,625 55,342	(48,678)	- 84,289
	(23,955) (32,987) (10,000) (63,968) (2,760)	- 8,160 - 18,689 - - - 11,032 - -
32,115 139,436	(133,671)	- 37,881
109,740 194,778	(182,348)	- 122,170
At the start of the year Income £ £ 44,930 48,806 22,000	Expenditure & loses £ (36,111) (2,000)	Transfers £ £ - 57,625 - 20,000 At the end of the year
66,930 48,806	(38,111)	- 77,625
11,709 98,544 10,437 20,853 - 20,000 - 750	(78,138) (31,290) (20,000) (750)	- 32,115 - - - - - -
22,146 140,147	(130,178)	- 32,115
89,076 188,953	(168,289)	- 109,740

HOME-START LONDON

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

8c Purpose of restricted funds

Berkeley Homes (North East London) : Development and delivery of Home-Start services in North East London.

Childhood Trust : Development of film and communications campaign.

National Lottery Community Fund : Delivery of Stronger Together: Ensuring a Better Start for Children in London project

The Charity of Sir Richard Whittington : Delivery of Big Hopes, Big Future project

Central North West London NHS Foundation Trust : Delivery of Perinatal Mental Health Peer Support

City Bridge Foundation : Contribution to Home-Start London Director salary.

Children England : Communications campaign.

8d Purpose of Designated funds

Funds have been designated by the Trustees for the purpose of fundraising and business development to support the development of new funding partnerships for Home-Start London.

9 Tangible fixed assets

Cost At the start of the year Additions in year At the end of the year Depreciation At the start of the year Charge for the year Eliminated on disposal At the end of the year Net book value At the end of the year At the start of the year All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes. Accruals and Deferred Income Taxation and Social Security Other Creditors Other debtors Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Debtors	Total £ £ - - 1,086 1,086 Computer equipment
	1,086 1,086
	- - 151 151 - -
	151 151
	935 935
	- -
	2025 2024 £ £ - -
	- -
	2025 2024 £ £ 1,850 1,500 133 602 685 1,175
	2,668 3,277

10 Debtors

11 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

HOME-START LONDON

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

For the year ended 31 March 2025
12a Current year Current Assets 12b prior year Current Assets Net assets at the end of the year ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS Current Liabilities Net assets at the end of the year Current Liabilities ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS	General Unrestricted £ 69,289 -	£ 15,000 - Designated	Restricted Total funds £ £ 40,549 124,838 (2,668) (2,668)
	69,289	15,000	37,881 122,170
	General Unrestricted £ 57,625 -	£ 20,000 - Designated	Restricted Total funds £ £ 35,392 113,017 (3,277) (3,277)
	57,625	20,000	32,115 109,740

13 Related party transactions

There are no related party transactions to disclose for 2025 (2024: none). There are no donations from related parties which are outside the normal course of business and no restricted donations from related parties.