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2021-08-31-accounts

Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts 2021 1 September 2020 to 31 August 2021

South Manchester Down’s Syndrome Support Group (SMDSSG)

Registered Charity Number: 1164570

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE FINANCIAL PERIOD 1 SEPTEMBER 2020 TO 31 AUGUST 2021

Administrative information

Charity name: South Manchester Down’s Syndrome Support Group (SMDSSG)

Principal address: Unit 17, 41 Old Birley Street, Manchester, M15 5RF

Trustees

Trustees
Trustee name Office (if any) Dates if not acted for full year
Richard Dolan Chair
Lucy Coverley Secretary Standing down
(AGM 21/06/2022)
Jitka Cowgill Treasurer
Lydia Burke
Rick Cowgill
Tina Kirwin
Dan Smith
Esther Whitaker Stooddown 29/05/2022
Vacancy
Vacancy

Advisors

Advisors
Type Name Address
Bank Co-operative Bank PO Box 250, Skelmersdale,
WN8 6WT

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Freelance part-time staff

Freelance part-time staff
Name Role
Bernadette Brooks Group Coordinator (Until 31/03/2021)
Emily Sollis Activities Coordinator (Started 01/09/2021)
John Henry WorkFit Co-ordinator (employed by DSA,
funded by SMDSSG)
Adelisa Yon Speech & language therapist
Alison Calow Speech & language therapist
Helen Adkins Speech & language therapist
Judith Patel Speech & language therapist (Started January
2022)
Jen Ellison Sing & sign

Structure, governance and management

SMDSSG is an Association CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation), established by constitution on 26 August 2015 and registered with Charity Commission on 26 November 2015 (charity number 1164570).

A CIO is a legal structure, under the Charities Act 2011, designed specifically and only for charities. The principle of a CIO is that it is a corporate body with limited liability but formed under charity law (rather than company law) and registered solely with the charity regulator, the Charity Commission. The protection afforded by the group’s limited liability make it easier to recruit and retain Trustees and to engage in contracts, including directly employing paid workers.

Purpose

We exist to empower children and young people with Down’s syndrome to reach their potential and lead fulfilling lives. We do this both directly by facilitating their access to social and educational opportunities and indirectly by helping their family members and carers to provide more effective support.

We provide a wide range of activities, training and support. We host a preschool group that meets fortnightly. We hold a monthly Chatterbox event for all ages providing targeted SLT training. Regular over 17s events include bowling, pizza nights and most recently a silent disco. We also arrange ad hoc social events throughout the year including soft play and walks in the park. Training courses are attended by parents, carers, teachers, teaching assistants and other professionals. Parents can receive support and advice at Chatterbox club, training courses, social events, via new parent contacts and meeting informally.

We manage two WhatsApp groups that help to connect families and seek specific support or advice such as transitioning through school or toileting.

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Our monthly newsletter is sent to around 330 recipients, including parents and professionals.

Achievements and performance

Membership

SMDSSG membership is approximately 175 members. Membership is free and members are entitled to:

Communication

Our activities are advertised via email, general information can be found via our website (currently under major renovation), Facebook page, Twitter account and our newsletter. We have a presence on the local offer pages of 4 local authorities and an active localgiving page.

Our newsletter is sent to around 330 people to keep members and friends up to date with the group’s activities and those run by other organisations of interest, and to provide other useful information.

Family support

The group provides opportunities for parents and carers to meet, share information and experiences, develop support networks and celebrate successes, and for children and siblings to socialise, make friends and have fun.

Training

Limited online training was completed during the first part of the financial year. With the abundance of online training available nationally we made the decision not to continue our own training program during the Covid pandemic, In March 2022 we returned to providing face to face training funded by BSL Industrie and money raised in memory of David Cowgill. A full report of training costs and delegate numbers will be provided in the next financial update.

Events

Returning to face-to-face activities was a big step forward for the charity, recruiting an activities coordinator on a part time freelance contract in September 2021.

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Chatterbox club

Our monthly Saturday morning open drop-in Chatterbox sessions provide a range of activities for all family members - children and young people with Down’s syndrome and their parents and siblings of all ages – and draw attendees from a wide area. Activities include sing and sign; yoga; Zumba; art and crafts; speech and language therapy. Chatterbox SLT sessions were held online throughout the financial year due to the ongoing pandemic returning to a new larger venue in September 2021. It has always been popular and has expanded, now regularly attended by over 50 families.

We would like to extend our thanks for such a huge effort from our wonderful team for organising a new venue, continuously updating Covid guidelines and for introducing some new activities. Adelisa, Alison and Helen have returned for face-to-face SLT sessions, supported by Jen for Sign and Sign and a new teen chat group. In January we brought in Judith to relieve the pressure on the expanded SLT program.

Preschool group

The preschool group is a wonderful opportunity for parents with babies to meet in a small group and share information, advice and stories over a coffee. A key part of our offering the group is currently run fortnightly on a Monday morning. Throughout this financial year due to the ongoing pandemic, sessions were held on-line, returning to face to face meetings in September 2021, we are exploring the possibility of expanding the group offering different days and venues to increase accessibility for this essential service.

Singing Hands

A regular annual event, having cancelled the 2020 concert due to be held in March 2020, as the UK went into lockdown, Singing Hands held several online sessions including a very successful Christmas show. The group celebrated World Down Syndrome Day 2022 with Singing Hands at The Life Centre in Sale. It was a huge success with over 170 people attending.

WorkFit

The DSA’s WorkFit programme is currently delivered by Molly Keal (Employment Development Officer) and John Henry (Employment Liaison Officer). The majority of WorkFit candidates have now returned to their positions and have been supported through this process, after having a significant period of shielding during the pandemic. The WorkFit team returned on a full-time basis in May 2021 and have supported 40 candidates in placements across the North West and West Midlands since this point. The majority of the placements are paid positions (30). Notably, in the Manchester area, we have a younger demographic and some of the work experience placements reflect this.

The following positions in Manchester have been successfully developed, within this period since May 2021;

May 2021;
Job Title Employer Start date Terms
Café Assistant Milk & Honey 10/08/21 Work experience

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Busser The Botanist,
Deansgate		 17/08/21 Paid
Sales Assistant Dunelm,Trafford 10/09/21 Paid
Coffee Shop
Assistant		 Dunelm, Altrincham 14/09/21 Paid
Café Assistant Olive Roc Café 01/11/21 Work experience
Banking Hall
Assistant - 4 posts		 Barclays – Rochdale,
Prestwich, Market
Street, Ashton
Under Lyne		 02/11/21 Work Experience
Café Assistant Serendipitea,Sale 9/04/21 Paid

The WorkFit team are optimistic about the upcoming opportunities for candidates in the Manchester area and are currently developing opportunities with the following employers;

Over 17s

One of our great success stories from the pandemic has been our over 17s group who met online for quiz and disco evenings via Zoom. Following our return to face-to-face events the over 17s have met for regular bowling events, enjoyed a Christmas disco, been out for pizza, helped shape the future of the charity by attending a focus group and most recently held a silent disco. Future events include dancing, and Zumba. A recent grant for £6000 has secured the future stability of the Over 17s.

Financial Review

The financial year has been severely impacted by the pandemic and restrictions limiting our ability to host events. Funding opportunities have been impacted so less money has been received than in previous years. However, the charity has maintained its financial position. Due to lower expenditure on events and with significantly reduced expenditure on employees (Bernadette Brooks worked until 31/03/2021 and John Henry remained on Furlough) during this financial period the cash position has remined stable. Overall the charity remains in a strong position to continue to support its members. At the end of the financial year, 31 August 2021, our accumulated funds totalled £20,255 (2020: £23,418) of which £516 (2020: £2,727) is restricted. The smaller figure for restricted funds is primarily due to existing grants being utilised during this financial year, we then received a small grant from the National Lottery covering our return to face-to-face activities in the new financial year. We always aim to maintain a minimum level of funds equivalent to six months’ projected running costs of the charity. Based on our current operational costs and a successful large funding application with the National Lottery we have sufficient funds to operate for more than three years. The financial position is continually reviewed. Our future plans and expansion rely on further funding which we hope will come via the form of grants. Members should be reassured that the trustees do not intend to use our

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reserves or plan/commit to any large expenditures without first having secured funding to support those plans.

Update on plans for the Future

During the last AGM the trustees were proud to present our vision for the future, we also highlighted our key strategic objectives required to help us achieve our ambitions.

Key Strategic Objectives

We are pleased to update you on the progress of our three objectives.

A. Large Grant

SMDSSG was awarded two grants towards the end of 2021 by the National Lottery, the first grant covered activities for a period of 6 months whilst the trustees focused on securing the second larger grant. This second grant will be paid in instalments over a period of 3 years and will help to secure the future of the charity.

B. Recruitment

The trustees of SMDSSG have, in the last year, added two new paid posts to ensure the running of the charity, following successful funding bids. The first appointment was that of an activities coordinator, Emily, who has now been in post for nearly 8 months.

More recently the trustees advertised for a CEO and was inundated with applications. The good field of candidates were shortlisted down to just 5 candidates. These potential CEOs were interviewed by three trustees and a young service user, Ben, either in person at the SMDSSG office or remotely over Teams.

After a very thorough interview process, the recruitment panel have unanimously agreed upon the most suitable person for the role. An offer of employment has been made and accepted, subject to good references and a clear DBS check the new CEO will be announced very soon. We hope you will join us in warmly welcoming our new employees to the charity.

C. The board

The board currently has space for four new trustees, we are looking for people with particular skills who will work well with the current trustees and new CEO. We invite anyone wishing to volunteer for this role to do so at the AGM. New volunteers will be invited to meet the team before confirming they wish to stand for election as a trustee. We are always looking for volunteers to help run projects, committees and our events so there will always be roles for all volunteers. Once we have sufficient procedures in place we aspire to recruit one of our members with Down’s syndrome onto the Board of Trustees.

Staff

Since the departure of Bernadette Brooks in March 2021 the charity has not employed a replacement and the charity has been run by the trustees. In September 2021 we employed Emily

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on a temporary contract to help organise our return to holding events. A quote from Emily explaining the important work she has been doing over the last few months.

“I have been working as the Events Coordinator for the South Manchester Down’s Syndrome Support Group for the past 9 months. As part of my role I help to organise activities at the monthly Chatterbox event such as yoga, drama workshops, Venture Arts and the Christmas party which included a balloon modeler and raffle with items donated from local small businesses. I recently liaised with the BBC production team and Trafford SEND Local Offer team to organise filming at this event to help raise awareness to other families. I’ve recruited Speech and Language therapy students from The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University who have the opportunity to shadow the qualified Speech and Language Therapists that run small groups at this event. I communicate with venues and professionals across Manchester to organise social events for our +17s members, our fortnightly pre-school group and training opportunities for members. I also write the monthly newsletter which provides members with up-to-date information on news, events and activities. I really enjoy my role with SMDSSG and the opportunity to work with such a lovely community of people who have been supportive and welcoming.”

Coronavirus Pandemic

The last financial year was significantly impacted the Coronavirus Pandemic. The outlook for the future is very positive. The trustees are proud to have seen the charity through a very tough couple of years, we look forward to expanding the group in line with our 5 year “vision of success” as detailed in the previous annual report.

Fundraising and donations

We currently rely on grants, fundraising and donations to support our activities. Donations can be made via our localgiving page: https://localgiving.org/charity/dsmanchester/and we encourage this over cash or cheques.

We are very grateful to all our supporters who donated so generously. Thank you!!

General data Protection Regulations (GDPR) : As a small charity we are compliant with the regulations whilst carrying out our objectives and keeping personal data we hold and the data we process under constant review. Two of our trustees have extensive and relevant experience with GDPR and provide support and guidance.

Approved by the Trustees on 24[th] June 2022 and signed on their behalf:

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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND ANO WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trustgesl members of South Manchester Down's Syndrome Support Group On accounts for the year ended 3118121 Charity no (If any) 1164570 Set out on pages 1 and 2 offomi CC16a I report to the trustees my examination of the aC￿urtts of the above tharity (Ihe Tn￿r) ft>r the year ended 3110812021 Rosponslbllnlas and basls of rnport As the (tharitys trustees, you are resp(￿sible for the preparation of the accounts in aco)rdance with the requlrements of the Charilles Act 2011 I report in respect of my examlnatlm of the Trust's acc¥unts carried out under seL#ion 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examinats'on. I have followed al the apr￿'Cable Directions given by the Charity Commission under secllon 145(5Xbl of the Act. Independent rrhe charitls gross inccrfne ex￿eded £250.000 and l am qualif￿d to exarnlnerf5 Statement undertake the exarninats'on by b8irKJ a qualified member of [insert nam8 of aPpI￿able Ilsted bodyll. Delete l ] rfnot applicable. I have comp18ted my examinalKJn. I confimi that rK) material m8tt8rs h8V8 com8 to my attenticm in connection with th8 8xamination (other than that disdosed below") ¥thith gives me ￿uSe to believe that In. any material respect the aC￿UntIng rec(xds were not kept in accordance wlth section 130 of the Charitres Act,. or the accounts did not accord with the aCci￿nting records,. or the accounts did not comply the appllcable requirements concerniry the foryn and c(Yrtent of accounts set in the Charities (Accounts and Rep(wts> Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a and fair, view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concems and have come across no olher matters in connedion ith the examinatbon to v1h￿h attention should b8 drawn in this r8POrt in order to enable a proper understandiNJ of the a(%ounts to be reached. ' Please delets the words in the brackets rfthey do not apply. Signed: 15 June 2022 Name: Sonia Davies Relevant professional qualificalion(s) or body IER Oct 2018

(rf any): Address: 2 Parkfield Court Atrincham WA14 28U Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters ot concern (see CC32. Independent examination of charity accounts.. directions and guidance for examinef5). Glva here brlef detslls of any items that the examlner wlsh88 10 dlsclose. IER Oct 2018

Re￿Ipts and paym•nts accourrts CC16a Forth• p•rnd from To Section A Receipts and payments Unr¢sidc¢ed toth• n•amt Restrictèd Endowment Total funds Last year trJth• I￿￿••t£ loth• n••fv•t£ toth• ¢• lh• Al Rocèi Bank Inlwest Fundr4￿n9 events D￿￿￿￿nS and yrants Iln¢l. tyftJl 14A45 999 1.160 270 20 IMS Fe•s for trwnin Sub ¢otal(Gross Income forAR) iQ5TO 21.Ql0 In Total r•celpts ni Bank cTrarg euld￿ 0￿p 1222 Pr&¥thod group Pro esslo*a costs Ralf•thmBnts lffl•o Ronl •nd •y wother 510 Sing and Speeth aThJ l• •225 SIAb Trahi Yoga ¢x•ts 10 Sub tot•1 A4 Ass•t and inve$tm•nt ••• tsb oep)￿lI￿ Ollk4 Leaming resuwtss Sub total Toealp4ym Netof rece10￿{DaVmentsj AS Trnn8f•rs betw••n funds Cash funds last w•r gnd Cash lunlts ¢hls ve•r •nd 3.309 9,69 2,n7 20 Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period 14CagfCS Unr•5tricted Restrlclgd Endowment •irostÉ B1 Cash funds 19.739 516 Cash kn haTha Total cash funds 19.739 516

Endowment fvnds funds funds Det￿15 Detai15 Details B4 Assets retslned for tho ¢harity'5 own use Details BS Llablltles Sign6d tycfje orts4Dtrust6es on beha na Prinl Name D8te of 1810412022