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2023-03-31-accounts

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1165588

Report of the Trustees and Receipts and Payment Accounts for the period ended 31 March 2023

for

Hector’s House

Hector’s House

Contents of the Report of the Trustees and Receipts and Payments Accounts for the period ended 31 March 2023

Page
Report of the Trustees 1
Receipts and Payments Account 5
Reconciliation to Amounts Held 6
Independent Examiners Report 7

Hector’s House

Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 March 2023

The Trustees are pleased to present their report together with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2023.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Charity Name Hector’s House Registered charity number 1165588 Charity’s principal address 236a High Street Berkhamsted Hertfordshire HP4 1AG Names of Trustees R Stringer B Stringer J Cornell C Rowland D Millar A Cornell Independent Examiner E Cartwright, FCCA FMAAT

Governing document

The governing document is a trust deed dated 24 November 2014.

Trustee selection

Trustees are usually appointed or reappointed annually at the annual general meeting held in February.

Summary of objectives

The charity’s objective is to help prevent suicide, by:

[1]

Hector’s House

Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 March 2023

Summary of main activities in relation to these objectives

In planning our activities for the year, the trustees kept in mind the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit. The main activities to further the objects include; introducing a 4-hr CPD accredited suicide alertness training to the charity’s educational aims (safeTALK), increasing our number of school talks and information presentations and to continue raising awareness in the community.

We have attended many seminars and are active members on steering groups such as Support After Suicide Bereavement (SASP), The National Suicide Prevention Alliance (NSPA) as well as local boards as Just Talk Network and Council-led Suicide Prevention Group in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. We have delivered several suicide Bereavement talks to Heath Care UK and are in regular talks with Hertfordshire Partnership Foundation Trust (HPFT). We have been strengthening our connections with other charities and community groups, and aim to maintain and develop these relationships further next year.

The charity has also been successful in increasing the skills and resources available to our beneficiaries. We have vastly improved our triage of support, and have expanded our number of trusted therapists. Our staff have been trained in Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), meaning we are able to offer more suicide interventions as part of our services. Our signposting and connections to other mental health organisations has also been improved, meaning a more timely and effective service for our beneficiaries. We have also successfully launched a men’s talking group – Hector’s Gentle-Man’s Club – with another in the pipeline. Our weekly meditation classes are still continuing, providing much solace for the attendees.

Our activity online increased; ensuring regular activity on social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – which are important for spreading mental health awareness and signposting to existing resources.

Summary of main achievements

Hector’s House had another amazing year of growth and development in 2022/23, and the team are incredibly grateful to our community and funders for all of their support. This funding has meant we were able to greatly increase our capacity – particularly in the support services we offer. The charity has seen an increase in demand for our services this year, so the funding secured has enabled us to offer more therapy sessions, school talks and listening ear sessions – as well as the implementation of our men’s peer support group Hector’s Gentle-Man’s Club.

We were also delighted to be in a position to increase our staffing - hiring of three new part-time staff members in social media, fundraising and for the running of our men’s groups. This has also increased the support team member’s capacity to strengthen the existing services offered, as well as ensuring the successful management of these important areas for the charity.

Awareness

We increased the use of our social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) to reach as many people in our local area as possible. Our digital activity has resulted in a growth of our number of followers and website users. We were told in 2022 by an event goer that our social media presence and the messages we put out saved their life – which meant a great deal to the team.

[2]

Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 March 2023

Hector’s House

Awareness (Continued)

We are also ensuring that GPs, other local charities, the Public Health teams and County Council workers in our area are aware of the service we provide by sitting on a number of boards and steering groups (listed above) that meet regularly.

Education

Our popular mental health wellbeing workshop Eat Move Love was well received by a number of local schools and organisations this year – and we were able to increase the amount of these talks by 60% across Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and the neighbouring counties.

We have also had a team member trained to deliver the CPD-accredited course called safeTALK – which is an internationally recognised suicide alertness training by LivingWorks Education. This course is a fantastic tool in making our community safer to suicide, as it gives attendees the skills and knowledge on how to spot the signs of suicide and how to get the person to safety in easy-to-follow steps. We are looking forward to implementing this training in 2023/24.

Alongside this we’ve done workshops on transitioning from school to university, staying safe over summer breaks, healing from suicide bereavement and are in the process of developing a wellbeing workshop that incorporates the 5 Ways to Wellbeing in practical steps.

Working in Partnership

We sit on the National Suicide Prevention Alliance (NSPA), Support After Suicide Partnership (SASP), and a number of Suicide Prevention steering, task and finish groups in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. We have attended digital conferences and work closely with any organisation who may need our insights or lived experiences to benefit their own work in the community.

Support

The amount of support offered this year has been greatly increased thanks to the success in fundraising and in the awareness raised of our services. We funded 130 therapy and counselling sessions in 22/23 and were able to give tailored signposting and give listening ear support to over 60 individuals in need of mental health care/crisis interventions.

Our team has been trained in Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) – meaning we have an extended capacity for delivering direct suicide interventions. This has been life-saving for many of our beneficiaries.

Our peer support group Hector’s Gentle-Man’s Club was successfully instated, with a number of male attendees feeding back to us to say how useful they found the opportunity to openly discuss their feelings. The weekly meditation sessions have also had positive feedback, and continues to flourish since it’s development during lockdown in 2020.

Our future support goals are to continue the growth and quality of our services, to expand our counselling network (including working with volunteer student placements) and to provide support for loved ones supporting those at crisis point. This work has been invaluable to our beneficiaries, so we are so grateful to our community for their unwavering support.

[3]

Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 March 2023

Hector’s House

Restricted Reserves

We were fortunate to secure a number of grants to fund our support services. Our restricted reserves are £1,995.

Statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

We are fortunate to have free reserves of £103,643. Our administration costs have increased this year with the employment three new members of staff. This has been incredibly beneficial to the charity as we have seen an increase in demand – ensuring every person (beneficiary or fundraiser) receives the best care and attention possible. With the increasing demands for support, we always need to keep funds in hand to offer an immediate response.

Our ultimate goal remains to have a physical Hector’s House whether rented or bought, the reserves need to build for the trustees to consider designating funds for this facility. It is believed the current level of reserves are not excessive given the increasing costs in the year ahead, the funds raised are all ad hoc.

There is no core funding.

DECLARATION

The Trustees declare that they have approved the trustee’s report above.

Name …………………………. Signed ................................................... Date .......................... Trustee, on behalf of Hector’s House

[4]

Hector’s House

Receipts and Payments Account for the period ended 31 March 2023

RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS
RECEIPTS
Voluntary Income
Donations
Grants
Gift Aid
Investments
Deposit account interest
Total Receipts
EXPENDITURE
Charitable Activities
Raising awareness & education
Counselling fees
Admin expenses
Insurance
Staff costs
Accountancy
Training & conferences
Raising Funds
Fundraising
Expenditure
Asset purchases
Total Expenditure
EXCESS OF RECEIPTS OVER
PAYMENTS		 Unrestricted
£
65,713
18,500
2,593
63
86,869
228
10,220
11,444
476
57,950
1,455
1,612
272
83,657
-
83,657
3,212		 Restricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 2023
Total
£
65,713
18,500
2,593
63
86,869
228
10,220
11,444
476
57,950
1,455
1,612
272
83,657
-
83,657
3,212		 2022
Total
£
85,727
35,902
-
1
121,629
5,719
8,820
6,364
471
48,961
1,636
444
72
72,487
4,250
76,737
44,892

[5]

Hector’s House

Receipts and Payments Account for the period ended 31 March 2023

RECONCILIATION TO AMOUNTS HELD

Excess of payments over receipts
Funds brought forward
CASH FUNDS (Note 1)
Notes
1. CASH FUNDS
Current account
Deposit account
Cash
2. OTHER MONETARY ASSETS
Gift aid claim
3. ASSETS RETAINED FOR CHARITY
OWN USE
Motor Vehicle
4. LIABILITIES
Social security
Pension		 Unrestricted
£
3,212
100,431
103,643
26,507
77,015
121
103,643
2,593
2,391
423
195
617		 Restricted
£
-
1,995
1,995
1,995
-
-
1,995
-
-
-
-
-		 2023
Total
£
3,212
102,426
105,638
28,502
77,015
121
105,638
2,593
2,391
423
195
617		 2022
Total
£
44,892
57,534
102,426
95,353
6,952
121
102,426
-
3,188
422
254
676

5. REMUNERATION OF CONNECTED PERSON

In accordance with the terms of the charity’s trust deed, C Stringer was paid £11,327 for the first four months our financial year (in FY2022: £25,750 per annum) for administration services and for preparing and delivering awareness and education presentations.

[6]

Independent Examiners Report to the Trustees of Hector’s House for the period ended 31 March 2023

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2023 which are set out on pages 5 to 6.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity’s trustees, 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 charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act. 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 material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

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 in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Examiner ................................................................. E Cartwright, FCCA FMAAT

Morton House, 9 Beacon Court, Pitstone Green Business Park, Pitstone, LU7 9GY

Date .................................................................

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