Community Circles creates opportunities for people to come together to have better and more connected lives
End of year report and accounts March 2022
www.community‐circles.co.uk
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Reference and administrative information
The charity is registered with the Charities Commission, registration number 1163149 Registered address 1 Church View, Knutsford WA16 6DQ
Trustees
Helen Sanderson MBE (Chair) Michelle Livesley Emily McArdle Ben Rosamond
Independent Examiner
The charity’s independent examiner is James Wheelan FCCA of James Wheelan Accountancy, Minshull House, 67 Wellington Road North, Stockport SK4 2LP
Structure, Governance and Management
Community Circles is constituted as a body corporate under part 11 of the Charities Act 2011. The board of Trustees meet together with the operational team monthly to ensure we are working towards our charitable purpose and following through on our strategic objectives. Community Circles operates as a self managed team with roles, processes and structures to support our strategic objectives and operations as detailed in the diagram below
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Board of Trustees
Development and
Operations Lead
Freelance
Community Connector Consultants/Trainers/ Half time administrator
Development Wigan
Project delivery
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Objectives and Activities
The purpose of Community Circles is to create opportunities for people to come together to have better and more connected lives.
To promote social inclusion for the public benefit by preventing people from becoming socially excluded, relieving the needs of those people who are socially excluded, relieving the needs of those people who are socially excluded and assisting them to integrate into society. For the purpose of this clause ‘socially excluded’ means being excluded from society, or parts of society, as a result of one or more of the following factors: unemployment; financial hardship; youth or old age; ill health (physical or mental); substance abuse or dependency including alcohol and drugs; discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, disability, ethnic origin, religion, belief, creed, sexual orientation or gender re‐ assignment; poor educational or skills attainment; relationship and family breakdown; poor housing or skills attainment; relationship and family breakdown; poor housing (that is housing that does not meet basic habitual standards); crime (either as a victim of a crime or as an offender rehabilitating into society.
Community Circles partners with a variety of health and social care organisations and local authorities to provide training and consultancy in circles of support, community and person centred approaches to help people stay connected to the people, places and interests that matter to them and supports their wellbeing.
Achievements and Performance
Ashton Circle
Ashton Circle is led by Connector Becky Noy, supporting people to come together around shared interests, creating opportunities for friendships to flourish. The number of local members of Ashton Circle was affected by the pandemic and resuming our face to face support meant reaching out to new members. As a charity we agreed that our focus would be to connect with anyone of any age living in Ashton, rather than our previous focus of working alongside older people. In order to make a difference to the people living in Ashton, to deliver on our purpose and to consider the sustainability of shared interest groups, we have been developing new ideas for community connections. Through guidance from Trustees we have been developing the Two Hour Club, rethinking volunteering as a way of investing in your own wellbeing; developing Small Sparks grants to support local people with their ideas for community connections and exploring Business 100 for developing reciprocal relationships with local businesses and Community Circles.
Circles Connected
Circles Connected was developed in response to the pandemic, supporting people to connect online when face to face groups wasn’t possible. We provided a variety of content through our Facebook Group, including video content to support people with hobbies and interests, live Zoom events to support conversation and connection and a variety of Facebook posts. The Facebook Group responded to the wishes of our members, providing
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content which reflected peoples interests and gathering members feedback. In response to our members wishes, we have continued to provide some online sessions including Action for Happiness course, watercolour class, poetry group and coffee club.
Discovery
Community Circles has provided training and support to Discovery colleagues in developing circles of support, person centred approaches and community mapping.
Lincolnshire County Council
Community Circles has provided training to day centre staff from Lincolnshire County Council in person centred and community approaches. We have worked closely with the Maximising Independence Team, offering bespoke support in all aspects of person centred approaches and relational practice. With support the team have developed some Small Sparks and Two Hour Club initiatives.
Making Space
Community Circles role working alongside Making Space has been twofold; supporting the development of a new carers service and co‐producing this alongside carers based on their interests and providing support to extra care colleagues, helping connect people around shared interests and supporting their wellbeing.
PossAbilities
Community Circles has provided a variety of bespoke training and support to PossAbilities colleagues including circles of support, connecting people around shared interests, exploring purpose and values and community contributions. PossAbilities have extended their partnership with Community Circles for a second year until March 2023.
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
The original intention was to work alongside colleagues from Maidenhead Football Club Community and NHS colleagues to develop wellbeing circles. Due to the impact of the pandemic, training was delivered to a smaller group of people than expected because many NHS colleagues were redeployed into other roles. In order to provide flexible support to NHS colleagues, an e‐resource was developed including documents, webinar recordings, stories, examples and templates.
Mencap
Community Circles has provided training and ongoing coaching to a range of Mencap staff in person centred and community approaches. We have also provided consultancy support for the development of new projects. Mencap have continued with their partnership with Community Circles for a second year until March 2023.
Communications and Influence
Newsletter – we have continued to share our national quarterly newsletter and have a monthly newsletter from Ashton Circle
TLAP blogs and animates – we were asked by Tlap to contribute resources to share how Community Circles can support personalisation within registered services. We have
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contributed a blog and range of animates and are supporting Tlap’s Rainbow Network of innovative community approaches.
Social Care Future – we have contributed to Social Care Futures gathering in Manchester, hosting a workshop together with Imagine, Act, Succeed sharing updates about Small Sparks and The Two Hour Club. Following our workshop we are having first conversations with Macintyre in September to explore future partnership working.
APPG on dementia – Cath and Kath Crowther were invited to the online event to talk about Community Circles as part of the APPG inquiry report on the social care workforce. Cath has been invited to the report launch in Parliament to speak to a panel of MP’s about Community Circles and the recommendations from the report.
Contributing to ADASS East community approaches – Cath has contributed to ADASS programme of innovations through webinars and recorded interviews to promote Community Circles.
Financial review
The attached receipts and payments accounts show the current state of the finances, which the Trustees considers to be acceptable. Total incoming resources were £107,980 (2021 ‐ £99,274) and total outgoing payments amounted to £140,074 (2021 ‐ £154,739) the net expenditure for the year was £32,095 (net income 2021 ‐ £55,465). Restricted funds carried forward amounted to £8,860 (2021 ‐ £142,362), Unrestricted funds carried fund amounted to £45,485 (2021: Nil).
Reserves Policy
In light of the main risks to the Charity the Trustees have made a decision that the Charity should keep funds at a suitable level in order to meets its ongoing liabilities.
Public benefit
The trustees confirm that they have referred to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the Charity’s aims and objectives and in planning the future activities of the Charity, These are shown above in the section 'Objectives and activities'.
Approved by the board on 26/01/2023
Helen Sanderson MBE Chair
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INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF
COMMUNITY CIRCLES
CHARITY REGISTERED NO.1163149
I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the receipts and payments accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2022 which are set out on pages 7 to 9.
Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner
The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Act and that an independent examination is needed.
It is my responsibility to:
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examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act,
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to follow the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Act, and
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to state whether particular matters have come to my attention
Basis of independent examiner’s statement
My examination was carried out in accordance with 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 the 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 in the statement below.
Independent examiners' statement
In connection with my examination, no material matters have come to my attention which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act or
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the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
James Wheelan FCCA
Date: 26/01/2023
James Wheelan Accountancy Limited Chartered Certified Accountants Minshull House, 67 Wellington Road North, Stockport, SK4 2LP
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COMMUNITY CIRCLES CHARITY REGISTERED NO.1163149
RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2022
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Total | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Funds | Funds | 2022 | 2021 | |
| Receipts | ||||
| Donations, legacies and grants | 30,204 | 19,000 | 49,204 | 99,274 |
| Fees for charitable services | 58,775 | - | 58,775 | - |
| Total receipts | 88,980 | 19,000 | 107,980 | 99,274 |
| Payments | ||||
| Wages and National Insurance | 7,304 | 96,897 | 104,201 | 120,011 |
| Pension contributions | 4,816 | - | 4,816 | 6,078 |
| Insurance | 1,644 | - | 1,644 | - |
| Printing, postage, stationery and computer supplies | 13,507 | - | 13,507 | 2,458 |
| Consultancy fees | 13,188 | - | 13,188 | 18,817 |
| Professional fees | 1,410 | - | 1,410 | 1,435 |
| Travel | 72 | - | 72 | 714 |
| Telephone, internet and postage | 1,096 | - | 1,096 | 1,836 |
| Bank interest and charges | - | - | - | 1 |
| Grants payable | 460 | - | ||
| Other expenditure | - | 140 | 140 | 2,505 |
| Sub total | 43,498 | 97,037 | 140,074 | 153,855 |
| Asset and investment purchases | - | - | - | 884 |
| Total payments | 43,498 | 97,037 | 140,074 | 154,739 |
| Net of receipts/(payments) | 45,482 | (78,037) | (32,095) | (55,465) |
| Transfers between funds | ||||
| - | - | - | - | |
| Cash funds brought forward at 1 April 2021 | 86,897 | 86,897 | 142,362 | |
| - | ||||
| Cash funds carried forward at 31 March 2022 | 45,482 | 8,860 | 54,802 | 86,897 |
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COMMUNITY CIRCLES
CHARITY REGISTERED NO.1163149
STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AS AT 31ST MARCH 2022
| CASH FUNDS Treasurers account Total cash funds ASSETS RETAINED FOR THE CHARITIES OWN USE Computers and other equipment Amounts owed Total LIABILITIES Accruals Other taxes Total liabilities |
Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total 2022 Total 2021 45,482 8,860 54,342 86,897 |
|---|---|
| 45,482 8,860 54,342 86,897 - 748 748 748 - - - 46,286 |
|
| - 748 748 47,034 600 - 600 600 1,124 - 1,124 2,795 |
|
| 1,724 - 1,724 3,395 |
Approved by the Management Committee and signed on its behalf
.................................................. Dr H Sanderson ‐ Chair
26/01/2023 .................................................. Date
www.community‐circles.co.uk
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COMMUNITY CIRCLES CHARITY REGISTERED NO.1163149
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2022
1. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
The Charity has transacted with related parties as follows:‐
Wellbeing Teams Group Ltd, a company under the control of Dr H Sanderson (CEO and founder) paid £Nil (2021: £8,305) to Community Circles in respect of salary and expense recharges and was paid £Nil (2021: £1,136) in respect of training. At the end of the year a balance of £nil was owed to the charity (2021: £nil). This company was dissolved on 7 September 2021.
Helen Sanderson Ltd, a company under the control of Dr H Sanderson (CEO and founder), granted £38,180 (2021: £2,500) to Community Circles.
Helen Sanderson Ltd, a company under the control of Dr H Sanderson (CEO and founder), paid £5,349 (2021: £Nil) to Community Circles in respect of a partnership with Touched By Olivia Foundation Limited.
Helen Sanderson Ltd, a company under the control of Dr H Sanderson (CEO and founder), was paid £2,663 in respect of salary recharges (2021: £Nil).
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