Hope for Southall Street Homeless
Registered Charity No. 1164674
St Anselm’s Rectory, the Green Southall, Middx UB2 4BE
Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2021
Reference and administration information
Name of the Charity: Hope for Southall Street Homeless Registered charity number: 1164674
Nature of the organization:
Hope for Southall Street Homeless is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) governed by a Constitution adopted on 27 November 2015
Registered as a Charity by the Charity Commission on 3 December
2015
Objects: To relieve poverty among homeless persons and rough sleepers in the district of Southall in the London Borough of Ealing who are in need, hardship and distress by reason of their social and economic circumstances, in particular, but not exclusively, by the provision of temporary accommodation, information, advice and signposting on issues related to healthcare, addiction and housing.
Trustees: Rev Gerard Mitchell SJ The Rev’d Michael Bolley Navraj Singh Susan Cawley John Coleby Francisco X D’Souza … appointed May 2020 Alma Patterson ………. appointed February 2021
Website: www.hssh.org.uk
Independent Examiner: Mr John Thomas FCCA
Bankers:
CAF Bank Limited 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill West Malling Kent ME19 4JQ
Reserves Policy: It is the policy of the Trustees as far as possible to hold monies in reserve sufficient to pay three months’ running costs including payment of staff.
Hope Southall Homeless/Trustees Matters/Minutes/AGMs/Annual Report to 31 03 2021
Public Benefit: The contents of this Annual Report comprise a summary of the main activities undertaken in order to carry out the objects of the charity for the public benefit.
The Trustees have complied with their duty to have due regard to Charity Commission guidance on public benefit
Structure, Governance and Management
Structure: The charity, by Constitution, provides for voting members other than the Trustees. Membership is invited and limited to organisations which demonstrate an active interest in the welfare of Southall’s residents and its community. These organisations may nominate a representative with powers to vote at general meetings, including for new trustees nominated from the members at the Annual General Meeting. At the Annual General Meeting, one-third of the Trustees will retire, and that number will be replaced by decision of the members. In addition, the Trustees may decide to appoint new trustees up to the total set in the Constitution.
Governance: The Trustees met twelve times during the year. The additional meeting, in August, reflects the unforeseen changes in the social environment in which HSSH is working once the Covid19 virus forced the shelter to close. Its guests were transferred to hotels under the Everyone In policy, and Staff maintained contact and support. This is developed in the Annual Review.
All Trustees’ meetings this year took place on-line.
Particular decisions taken by the Trustees:
-
To place employees on the Government’s furlough scheme; the Trustees resolved to continue to pay employees 100% of their salary throughout the period when the scheme was in place whether the Government contributed 80% of the salary or less.
-
Joint letter with the Ealing local authority to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to emphasise the need to maintain funding for rough sleepers with the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition.
The needs of people with the NRPF condition became a priority concern throughout the year because Government policy to take rough sleepers into accommodation was for health reasons and did not include a change of policy towards immigration status and access to services provided by public funds . (Further detail found in the Annual Review).
Management: Hope for Southall Street Homeless employs a full-time Manager, responsible to the Trustees and who reports at the monthly Trustees’ meeting. The role includes supervision of the Complex Needs Case Worker and Community Support worker.
Hope Southall Homeless/Trustees Matters/Minutes/AGMs/Annual Report to 31 03 2021
Objectives and activities
Hope for Southall Street Homeless addresses the hardship needs of rough sleepers verified on streets and sites in Southall by referring them to services for health concerns, physical and mental, for alcohol and substance misuse treatment, and for independent immigration advice.
Hope for Southall Street Homeless intends to provide accommodation again when conditions change and suitable premises can be found.
The activities of this charity are directed in collaboration with its partners to fulfilling these objectives with practical resources and through pastoral, personal support by the charity’s staff and volunteers.
Annual Review for year to 31 March 2021
No one at Hope for Southall Street Homeless (HSSH) had expected that the 5[th] anniversary of the opening of the night shelter, on 6 January 2016, would be marked with the shelter still being closed. The pandemic that caused so much disruption to ordinary life across families and communities also affected the small community of the shelter. Despite the major Government intervention with the Everyone In policy, providing a room in a hotel for over 4,000 rough sleepers across the UK, even that beneficial initiative was experienced as disruptive at first in the way it impacted the HSSH shelter community and its guests.
This is best illustrated by the fact that in less than two months of the shelter’s 13 guests being transferred to a hotel in east London from Southall, 7 had returned to the streets of Southall. The relocation to east London had disrupted this particular group from its cultural base in London. Once back on Southall streets, they were found accommodation locally by Ealing authority through Everyone In funding; of those who stayed in east London, several needed specific medical attention at different hotels. The group of guests had been not only disrupted but also dispersed.
Hope for Southall Street Homeless’ Staff and Trustees spent the rest of the year covered by this Review, and into the following year, refashioning the delivery of its mission in these new conditions.
April to June: Loss
Front-line staff ensured no break in the support for HSSH’s guests as they were transferred to the designated hotel in east London. Guests were taken by black cab taxis, offered by drivers voluntarily. The Manager and Case Workers followed on to the hotel within an hour or so. They anticipated difficulties in HSSH’s guests making themselves understood and wanted to be on hand to help interpret. Deeper issues soon emerged which revealed the level of loss which the guests were experiencing.
First days at the hotel: displacement
They had become far removed from their regular resources within Southall – food, language and places to go when too cold to remain outside. The transfer to hotel accommodation meant to them actual displacement. One consequence of this was that they gathered in groups in one or other of the hotel rooms,
Hope Southall Homeless/Trustees Matters/Minutes/AGMs/Annual Report to 31 03 2021
which was then reported to the HSSH staff as contravening the social distance rules. The HSSH Manager and Staff managed to resolve this. Another existential issue from the beginning was that those dependent on alcohol should not on account of health reasons simply be refused alcohol. Again, HSSH Staff represented this need to the hotel staff and social workers.
One week after the transfer date on 1 April 2020, 3 handed in the keys to their rooms and left; 2 of the original 13 had not even left Southall. Two weeks later, only 6 of the original 11 remained in the hotel. As the virus struck, individuals were taken to units at other hotels for medical care.
Building back: engaging with Government, local and central
The Trustees, while focused on supporting the Staff who provided supplementary food at the hotels, phones and, in a few instances, helping guests to return to their hotels from hospital, considered what form of accommodation could replace the shelter. Early in June, Trustees first approached a local Councillor in their search for a suitable property. At the same time, Trustees joined with the Council Leader to prepare a joint letter to the then Ministry of Housing, Community and Local Government which included the claim that this local authority, Ealing, had the highest number of rough sleepers with the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition. The petition was to acknowledge the exceptional challenge this gave the authority and to request additional funding.
It is this NRPF condition which is the core reason for the extent of such a high level of rough sleeping in Southall. The night shelter was established to respond to this need. This factor is widely experienced by agencies and organisations supporting homeless people and one letter from 36 such organisations to the Government made the removal of the NRPF condition its central plea:
‘… to grant a period of leave to remain, with recourse to public funds and access to the labour market, to all those with insecure immigration status. This is a vital step to protect public health during the Covid-19 Pandemic’ (Status for All, April 2020, signed by JRS UK and 35 others)
The disruptions of this first quarter of the year to March 2021 set a pattern for the coming months: most guests, unless detained in a medical unit, found ways to return to the streets of Southall, and gradually were accommodated by the borough; the staff maintained weekly visits to both those staying in hotels, to those now in rooms in Southall, and increasingly responded to a flow of phone calls to help these individuals adapt to the conditions. Trustees continued to petition the local authority for alternative accommodation, or property that could be converted, as well as writing to a construction company developing land adjacent to St Anselm’s Church, the site of the shelter 2 nights per week.
July to December: Searching
The first months of the lockdown brought to the surface the dilemma underlying the provision of accommodation for Everyone In, that some were not eligible for services paid for from public funds. This built in a ‘cliff-edge’ - the time when the concession allowing hotel provision would come to an end. This resulted in two levels of HSSH initiative, one by petition to Government through the local authority, the second by appeal to the local community.
Hope Southall Homeless/Trustees Matters/Minutes/AGMs/Annual Report to 31 03 2021
At the same time, Staff continued to visit HSSH guests across London; those outside Ealing became more widely dispersed to hotels with medical facilities. At the beginning of July, Staff visited guests in 5 different locations; by September, that had risen to 7 locations, of which 3 were venues in Ealing. Some calls from the guests/clients needed immediate action: in one, intervening on behalf of an individual who had been admitted to hospital when his landlord threatened to put his possessions onto the street.
Two levels of initiative
A. The direct initiative was the request to the local authority and letters to a network of religious communities asking simply for any suitable property, meaning with individual
rooms, or a property that could be adapted. Later, the Trustees and 24 others signed a letter to the Mayor of London.
B. The indirect initiative was the setting up of the Southall Homeless Roundtable which held two sessions before Christmas 2020. The first session produced the working themes: Accommodation; Work; Immigration; Community Agency concerns; Care & Support Services. It was the Work theme that emphasised the link between the others: allow people to work legally, to gain an income, to rent rooms.
This would not solve the whole problem of rough sleeping but the freedom to work would provide a floor from which to build up. The second session, early in December, looked more at responding to the immediate issues of finding premises, of communicating better with the community about the conditions to do with homelessness and a renewed effort to engage the business community. A project for distributing donated food and clothes had opened at St John’s Church, Southall in April; that opened up discussion about the possibility of refurbishing an old Church building as a Day Centre. That project, and its lead worker, became incorporated into HSSH 6 months later.
January to March: Sustaining Hope
The end of March loomed large from the start of 2021. The 31st March was understood to be the end-date of the concession for rooms to be paid for people with the NRPF condition. The 5[th] Anniversary of the opening of the night shelter coincided with a message from the borough’s Rough Sleeping Coordinator that the authority had put in a request for the concession to be extended beyond March.
The two Southall Homeless Roundtable groups for Accommodation and Support Services met early in January. The Accommodation group began to look at practical solutions: the possible adapting of existing buildings as well as more mobile, temporary units, including pods. The Support Services group began to consider the development of the Drop-in Service delivered at one of the Churches which owns an unused older church building. The idea of refurbishing the old building and having a Day Centre which would provide a base for the Drop-in to expand and include other services became a goal.
The vaccination of people in Southall either sleeping rough or those in rooms under the concession highlighted again the resources provided by HSSH; its Staff were
Hope Southall Homeless/Trustees Matters/Minutes/AGMs/Annual Report to 31 03 2021
essential in communicating to its guests the importance of the jab, and St John’s Church which hosted the Drop-in also hosted the vaccination service over a couple of days. This service was repeated a week later to ensure all were covered.
The 5[th] Annual General Meeting took place, on-line, on 23 February 2021, an opportunity for reviewing the year leading up to the closure of the shelter. Two new Trustees were appointed. Particularly memorable was the short film made in the days leading up to the shelter’s final days and shown at the AGM, ‘ I Am Still Here’ . It was entered into the Ealing Film Festival later in 2021 but was not selected.
Grounds for hope : the first of these is that HSSH’s Lead Case Worker has become the go-to person for referrals from Thamesmead, the organisation which manages people moving on from the hotels. This is the task of helping people to return to their home country, known as ‘Reconnection’. At the end of March 2021, the Case Worker reported that she was supporting 4 people with the process of reconnection through the Government’s Assisted Voluntary Scheme. This revealed that those who could foresee the possibility of rough sleeping again were making the decision to end the attempt to establish a base in the UK with no hope of rights to work, to rent or to gain financial support.
The second ground for hope, however limited, was a note to HSSH from the borough’s Head of Housing Solutions that there would be some funding for people with the NRPF condition beyond the 31 March deadline on the condition that they continue to cooperate with their immigration adviser.
This would not continue indefinitely, probably another 3 months, but for HSSH every bit of ‘extra time’ would help to search for and possibly to find that winning goal, a place to accommodate our guests.
*
Grants and Donations
The Trustees of Hope for Southall Street Homeless would like to thank again these charitable bodies which made grants during the year to the end of March 2021:
The Edward Gostling Foundation The London Community Response Fund The National Lottery Community Fund London Catalyst Samaritan Fund Middlesex Masonic Charity
Contributions of food HSSH Staff took donations of cooked food on a weekly basis to its guests in the hotels during the year, and continues to do so. As noted in the Annual Review, having familiar food was one comfort that helped the guests cope with the separation from the Southall community.
The Trustees wish to thank those who provided this food whether prepared in someone’s own kitchen or in that of an organisation. Thank you for your kindness during that particularly difficult time.
All Grants to HSSH since being founded (excluding contributions specific to the year 2020/21 as listed above) An Anonymous Trust Albert Hunt Trust Caritas Westminster Cardinal's Appeal Fund Diocese of London Homeless Appeal The Jesuit Social Fund Society of the Sacred Heart Near Neighbours Clifton Primary School St Anselm's Young Adults Grp
Hope Southall Homeless/Trustees Matters/Minutes/AGMs/Annual Report to 31 03 2021
Miss Rashpal Kaur & Congregation St Edward’s Golders Green St John Southworth Fund St Anselm’s Parish St James – Southall Waterside St Wilfrid’s, Preston St George’s, Southall Hilden Charitable Trust Mrs Rashpal Kaur Sohal and Congregation Sisters of the Holy Cross SMG General Council Archer Trust St Luke’s Parish, Pinner Emmanuel Southall Alec Reed Academy Missionaries of Charity, Southall Southall Jesuit Community Jesuits in Britain Passionist Grants Fund Holy Trinity Southall Pacific Eagle Ltd Devonshire Estate Agents Berkeley Homes Southall Waterside Souter Charitable Trust Southall Wards Forum Central Jamia Masjid Ealing Abbey Ealing CVS Farm Street Parish St Anselm’s Catholic Primary School Hasmat’s Ltd Kingsdown Methodist Church Archer Trust Albert Gubay Foundation Poor Servants of the Mother of God Cardinal’s Appeal Fund Housing Justice National Lottery Fund Southall Wards Forum St Mary Norwood Green PCC St John Southall PC The Leslie Aldridge Trust The Brothers Trust
Results of an Appeal HSSH is particularly grateful to the following Religious Communities who responded to an Appeal in 2019: Little Company of Mary Medical Mission Sisters Sisters of Charity of St Jeanne Antide Sisters of Mercy of the Union
Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary and Joseph Religious of the Assumption
Hope Southall Homeless/Trustees Matters/Minutes/AGMs/Annual Report to 31 03 2021
Hope Southall Homeless/Policies/Essential Policies/template/June 2021
HOPE FOR SOUTHALL STREET HOMELESS Registered Charity Number 1164674 - Registered on 3 December 2015 FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR YEAR END 31 March 2021
| FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR YEAR END 31 March 2021 | Page 1 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Previous Year's | figues for comparsion | |||||||
| STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENDITURE | 2021 | 2021 | 2020 | 2020 | ||||
| OVERALL INCOME AND EXPENDITURE | £ | £ | £ | £ | ||||
| INCOME | ||||||||
| Grants | 127,018.89 | 185,663.18 | ||||||
| Donations | 26,816.59 | 153,835.48 | 62,866.85 | 248,530.03 | ||||
| Other income | 0.00 | 1,152.00 | ||||||
| TOTAL INCOME | 153,835.48 | 249,682.03 | ||||||
| EXPENDITURE | ||||||||
| Staff costs (incl Volunteer Co-ordinator & Case Workers) | 125,089.25 | 154,733.32 | ||||||
| Training | 0.00 | 720.00 | ||||||
| Guest support | 5,830.35 | 1,586.00 | ||||||
| Fundraising | 0.00 | 176.26 | ||||||
| Venue costs (Night Shelter) | 0.00 | 6,540.00 | ||||||
| Day Centre costs | 0.00 | 1,919.33 | ||||||
| Food and Drink, Toiletries and Other Consumables | 0.00 | 3,189.43 | ||||||
| Laundry | 0.00 | 2,978.00 | ||||||
| Equipment | 0.00 | 1,008.55 | ||||||
| Insurance | 1,249.00 | 1,211.97 | ||||||
| Telephone, Postage, etc | 1,388.92 | 467.31 | ||||||
| Sundries | 1,786.78 | 498.59 | ||||||
| TOTAL EXPENDITURE | 135,344.30 | 175,028.76 | ||||||
| EXCESS OF INCOME OVER EXPENDITURE | 18,491.18 | 74,653.27 | ||||||
| GENERAL FUND (Unrestricted) | ||||||||
| INCOME | ||||||||
| Grants | 16,650.00 | 34,993.00 | ||||||
| Donations | 26,816.59 | 62,866.85 | ||||||
| Other income | 0.00 | 1,152.00 | ||||||
| TOTAL GENERAL FUND INCOME | 43,466.59 | 99,011.85 | ||||||
| EXPENDITURE | ||||||||
| Staff costs (incl Volunteer Co-ordinator & Case Workers) | 15,899.67 | 23,464.96 | ||||||
| Fundraising | 0.00 | 176.26 | ||||||
| Venue costs | 0.00 | 6,540.00 | ||||||
| Food, Drink and Toiletries | 0.00 | 2,848.10 | ||||||
| Other Consumables | 0.00 | 341.33 | ||||||
| Laundry | 0.00 | 2,978.00 | ||||||
| Equipment | 0.00 | 1,008.55 | ||||||
| Insurance | 1,249.00 | 1,211.97 | ||||||
| Telephone, Postage, etc | 1,388.92 | 467.31 | ||||||
| Sundries | 1,786.78 | 498.59 | ||||||
| TOTAL GENERAL FUND EXPENDITURE | 20,324.37 | 39,535.07 | ||||||
| ANALYSIS OF MOVEMENT OF FUNDS during the Financial Year | Income | Expenditure | Excess | Balance at | Current | |||
| UNRESTRICTED FUNDS | start of year | balance | ||||||
| General Fund | 43,466.59 | 20,324.37 | 23,142.22 | 74,466.88 | 97,609.10 | |||
| RESTRICTED FUNDS | ||||||||
| to pay Staff costs | 88,570.19 | 73,939.06 | 14,631.13 | 39,377.16 | 54,008.29 | |||
| to pay for Volunteer Co-ordinator | 0.00 | 839.88 | -839.88 | 1,597.66 | 757.78 | |||
| to pay for Training | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1,080.00 | 1,080.00 | |||
| to pay for Day Centre costs | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 20,926.86 | 20,926.86 | |||
| to pay for Guest Support | 1,500.00 | 5,830.35 | -4,330.35 | 5,033.00 | 702.65 | |||
| Southall Waterside Fund | 20,298.70 | 34,410.64 | -14,111.94 | 33,779.90 | 19,667.96 | |||
| Totals of Restricted Funds | 110,368.89 | 115,019.93 | -4,651.04 | 101,794.58 | 97,143.54 | |||
| OVERALL TOTALS OF ALL FUNDS | 153,835.48 | 135,344.30 | 18,491.18 | 176,261.46 | 194,752.64 | |||
| BALANCE SHEET | ||||||||
| Balance at CAF Bank at 31 March 2020 | 167,675.17 | |||||||
| Less subsequent payments relating to year 2019-2020 | -12,813.71 | |||||||
| Plus subsequent receipts relating to year 2019-2020 | 21,000.00 | |||||||
| Funds held at CAF Bank at start of year | 175,861.46 | |||||||
| Petty Cash Fund at start of year | 400.00 | |||||||
| Total funds held at start of year | 176,261.46 | |||||||
| Balance at CAF Bank at 31 March 2021 | 194,352.64 | |||||||
| Funds held at CAF Bank at 31 March 2021 | 194,352.64 | |||||||
| Petty Cash Fund | 400.00 | |||||||
| Total funds held at 31 March 2021 | 194,752.64 |
This Financial Statement having been Independently Examined was approved by the Trustees of Hope for Southall Street Homeless on 26 January 2022
Signed on behalf of the Trustees by Susan Cawley (Chair)
HOPE FOR SOUTHALL STREET HOMELESS Registered Charity Number 1164674 - Registered on 3 December 2015 FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR YEAR ENDED 31 March 2021
Page 2
NOTES
| OPE FOR SOUTHALL STREET HOMELESS gistered Charity Number 1164674 - Registered on 3 December 2015 NANCIAL STATEMENT FOR YEAR ENDED 31 March 2021 OTES |
|
|---|---|
| 1. Sources of Larger Grants and Donations - 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 UNRESTRICTED (General Fund) Albert Hunt Trust 5,000.00 Berkeley Foundation 11,000.00 Jesuit Fund for Social Justice 650.00 Poor Servants of the Mother of God 20,000.00 TOTAL OF LARGER UNRESTRICTED GRANTS AND DONATIONS RESTRICTED FUNDS to pay Staff costs Edward Gostling Foundation 8,000.00 London Community Response Fund 3,105.00 National Lottery 8,352.00 HMRC Job Retention (Furlough) Scheme 31,613.19 to pay for Guest Support London Catalyst ‘Samaritan’ Fund 1,500.00 Middlesex Masons Community Fund 2,000.00 Southall Waterside Fund Grants & Fundraising by St James West London 20,298.70 TOTAL OF LARGER RESTRICTED GRANTS AND DONATIONS TOTAL OF ALL LARGER GRANTS AND DONATIONS RECEIVED |
36,650.00 74,868.89 |
| 111,518.89 |
2. Southall Waterside Fund
The Berkeley Group and its associated charitable foundation supported the work of HSSH by fundraising for the costs of the post of Complex Case Worker. The Southall Waterside Fund receives these funds and ensures that they are ring-fenced for the designated purpose.
3. Covid-19 Pandemic and Closure of Night Shelter
As noted in the Annual Report, the work of HSSH, in common with the whole world, was deeply affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Night Shelter closed during March 2020 and remained closed throughout the year. Whilst the Manager, Secretary and Case Workers continued working, Evening Shift Leads and Night Workers wre placed on Furlough in the hope that they would be back at work before too long. The Trustees decided to keep all furloughed staff on full pay, topping up the support received through the HMRC scheme. In order to keep supporting our guests our way of working changed radically, and this is reflected in the rather different pattern of expenditure compared to previous years.
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of HOPE FOR SOUTHALL STREET HOMELESS On accounts for the year ended 3110312021 Charity no lif any) 1164674 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity I'lhe Trust") for the year ended 3110312021. Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 1.the Act.). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145151{bl of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect.. accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records Independent examiner's statement I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which altention should be drawn in order to enable proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed: Date: 25.01.2022 Name: JOHN THOMAS Relevant professional qualification{sl or body (if any): B.Sc.IEconl FCCA Address: 5 Floor, Hyde Park Hayes 3 11 Millington Road Hayes UB3 4AZ IER October 2018
Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight malters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts.. directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. IER October 2018