Community Integration and Advocacy Centre Trustees Annual Report and Accounts 1[st] January 2021 to 31[st] December 2021
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Organisational Structure, Governance and Management
Community Integration and Advocacy Centre (CIAC) is registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and is governed by a constitution dated 3[rd] December 2016. Charity Commission registration was obtained on the 4[th] January 2017. CIAC’s charity registration number is 1170984. CIAC’s registered address is c/o 69 Ella Street, Hull HU5 3AJ.
CIAC Board of Trustees constitutes:-
Dr Ben Butler (Chair of the Board of Trustees) Angela Murden Anna Grzybowska Lama Orabi Laura Wilson Prof. Glenn Burgess Gill Martin (resigned 21[st] April 2021)
Trustees are recruited as the existing Board of Trustees identify skills gaps and decide on suitable people who will complement and enhance the skills and experience profile of the current Board.
CIAC is managed by our Chief Executive Officer, Jayne Mercer. Jayne is responsible for the day to day management of the service.
CIAC would like to thank Diana Johnson MP for being our first patron.
Mission statement: Supporting emerging communities to contribute fully to life in the UK as committed and active citizens.
CIAC’s charitable objectives are:-
To advance education and relieve financial hardship amongst Emerging Communities in the Humber Region through the provision of legal and other advice and by any other means as the trustees may determine
(Emerging communities are defined as refugees, asylum seekers, EEA migrants and other migrants)
The CIAC Trustees have had due regard to the Charity Commission guidance on the Public Benefit Requirement (Reg. 40(2)(c)(ii)).
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Message from the Chair
2021 was a year of continuing operational challenges for CIAC as a comprehensive lockdown gave way to a phased exit from March 2021. In common with all customer-facing services, we were confronted with the challenge of resuming face-to-face services and rebuilding our service-user base, whilst finding a way to carry forward some of the best of the new working practices that lockdown had necessitated.
Having re-established face-to-face services at Open Doors in July 2021, CIAC recorded 384 client interactions between July and December 2021, a 207% increase on the same period in 2020. There was a corresponding boost to our income generation, which went from £6,761 to £15,470, a 141% increase on the 2020.
Alongside our affordable paid-for services, CIAC continued to offer extensive pro-bono support to individuals lacking the means to fund legal support. 48 such applications were submitted in 2021, a 23% increase on 2020. These included lodging appeals, further asylum submissions and applications based private and family life or the experience of domestic violence which accounted for 56% of all pro bono applications.
One of our key priorities in transitioning back to face-to-face services was to re-engage our volunteer base. This had dropped to just 2 people during lockdown, but we were able to reengage previous volunteers and establish new recruits as soon as circumstances allowed. With 9 volunteers, we became stronger than ever during this period.
Perhaps the most significant develop during this period were advances in our ability to undertake more complex legal work as we became the only charity regulated and operational at OISC level 3 within a fifty-mile radius of Hull. Alongside our comprehensive OISC accreditation, we have also achieved regulation under the Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme (IAAS) which provides a gateway to becoming a Legal Aid, a move that our Board will need to consider carefully as we continue to develop our services for the benefit of asylum seeker, refugees and other migrants in the region.
Our registration at OISC level 3 also enabled us to partner with the Manuel Bravo Project and Leeds Refugee Forum in a successful bid for funding which should provide us with a secure financial position from April 2022.
I pledged in our 2020 report, that “2021 will be a year when we can enhance the quality and impact of our work by rebuilding our footprint, re-establishing our volunteer base and extending our services”. Jayne and her team of volunteers proved to more than equal to this challenge. It is a source of great pride to myself and my fellow trustees that CIAC has not only survived, but thrived as we emerged from the dislocation of lockdown.
I’d like to thank the trustees, volunteers and staff of CIAC for their role in rebuilding CIAC to be stronger than even. We remain extremely proud of the impact of our work on individuals and families in the region.
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Dr Ben Butler Chair of the Board of Trustees
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Achievements and Performance
CIAC participates in the Hull Welcome Project in partnership with Open Doors and Hull City of Sanctuary. CIAC provides generalist and specialist immigration advice, Open Doors provides orientation activities and Hull City of Sanctuary offers cultural activities and coordinates Hull Refugee Week.
CIAC has successfully maintained regulation with OISC at Level Three(L3). Following success in a number of exams CIAC is now fully operational at OISC L3. In addition, CIAC’s Principal Immigration Advisor(PIA) and Chief Executive Officer(CEO) has achieved regulation under the Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme (IAAS) as a Senior Caseworker. IAAS accreditation is required to provide immigration services under Legal Aid. CIAC no longer requires supervision and thanks John Donkersley profusely for his support which has enabled CIAC to progress in regulated immigration advice and services.
CIAC is the only charity regulated and operational at OISC L3 for an almost fifty mile radius.
CIAC did not seek any grant funding until after the successful outcome of the immigration law exams in July 2021. Upon becoming fully operational at OISC L3, CIAC partnered with Manuel Bravo Project and Leeds Refugee Forum, achieving a successful outcome at the end of 2021 for funding which starts in April 2022 supporting a very different financial position for the next annual review.
Ongoing Covid issues in 2021 prevented return to face to face services until July 2021. This allowed our PIA to concentrate on preparing for and successfully passing OISC L2, OISC L3 and IAAS Senior Caseworker exams during the year. CIAC returned to the Open Doors Thursday morning drop in July 2021.
Achievements and performance:
-
CIAC recommenced face to face services in July 2021 at the Open Doors drop in with a team of volunteers. From July 2021 until December 2021 our multicultural team provided a total of 384 client interactions during attendance at the Open Doors Thursday drop-ins providing support with a range of issues including welfare rights, asylum support, access to services and immigration advice. This compares with 125 face to face client interactions at the drop in during 2020 due to the Covid restrictions on services.
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80 fee paying applications were completed generating an income of £15,470, an increase of £8,719 compared to our income generation figure for 2020 which was £6,761. In December 2021 alone CIAC’s fee paying work generated £3125. Fees charged are very low compared to commercial organisations. It is explained to clients that the low fees support pro bono immigration services to help people without a positive immigration status resolve their situation .
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48 pro bono immigration applications were submitted to the Home Office, an increase of 9 from 2020. These include further asylum submissions, private and family life, domestic violence applications and lodging appeals. Domestic
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-
violence applications accounted for 27 of the pro bono applications. A further 36 people were provided with advice to prepare for future applications.
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CIAC is supported by a team of nine volunteers from seven nationalities. CIAC would not be able to complete our work without the commitment of our volunteers. Upon returning to face to face work in July, it was gratifying to see so many volunteers had maintained their commitment to CIAC.
-
CIAC’s volunteer psychotherapist has completed four assessments which have been used to support applications for vulnerable clients.
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CIAC’s training programme has continued fortnightly on a Tuesday evening through on-line sessions. CIAC now has three advisors regulated at L1, along with the PIA regulated at L3. CIAC intends to develop a L2 programme when we have a cohort of six L1 advisors.
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CIAC Accounts 2021
| Income | Restricted | Unrestricted | Total | Last year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants | 0 | 0 |
0 |
£13,488 | |
| Donations | 0 | £1,000 |
£1,000 |
£1,000 |
|
| Fees from Chargeable Services | 0 | £15,470 |
£15,470 | £6,761 |
|
| Miscellaneous | 0 | £51.30 |
£51.30 |
£52 |
|
| 16521.3 | 16521.3 | £21,301 |
| Expenditure | Restricted | Unrestricted | Total | Last Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessional Worker | £1,000 | £11,736.25 |
£12,736 | £16,281 | |
| Supervision | 0 | 0 |
£0 |
£5,108 |
|
| Training | 0 | £5,728.20 |
£5,728 |
£2,457 |
|
| OISC registration | 0 | 0 |
£0 |
£1,290 |
|
| insurance | 0 | £694.38 |
£694.38 | 0 |
|
| Legal resources | 0 | £524.40 |
£524 |
£892 |
|
| IT & communication - equipment | 0 | 0 |
£0 |
£304 |
|
| IT & communication - development & | |||||
| resources | 0 | £1,157.28 |
£1,157 |
£388 |
|
| Volunteer expenses | 0 | 0 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Travel | 0 | £94.94 |
£95 |
£14 |
|
| Post and stationery | 0 | £92.43 |
£92 |
£119 |
|
| Premises | 0 | 0 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Destitution | 0 | £140 |
£140 |
£216 |
|
| Development of educational resource | 0 | 0 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Miscellaneous | 0 | £2,014.51 |
£2,015 |
£367 |
|
| Total | £1,000 | £22,182.39 |
£23,182 | £27,436 | |
| Excess of receipts over payment | (£1,000) | -5661.09 |
-6660.7 | (£6,135) | |
| Balance brought forward | £10,380 | -1060 |
£9,320 |
£20,796 | |
| Balance carried forward | £9,380 | -6721.09 |
£2,659.3 | £14,661 | |
| £2661.59 Balance in bank |
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NOTES
Due to the omission of the pence figures in the table above there appear to be two summation errors. These are actually due to rounding and affect the relevant totals by £2.29
Assets: four laptops and two mobile phones
CIAC aims to allocate one month’s operating costs per year to its reserves until six month’s operating costs are held in reserve. The reserve fund will be capped at a maximum of £500,000. Reserves are defined, in line with Charity Commission guidance, as that part of a charity’s unrestricted funds that is freely available to spend on any of the charity’s purposes. Because of Covid it has not been possible to realise this aim this year.
CIAC’s income generation model is based on low cost, ethical immigration advice to people with recourse to public funds and/or the right to work underpinning pro bono (free) immigration advice to people without recourse to public funds and without the right to work as a long term, sustainable route out of destitution. In 2021 CIAC generated an income of £15,470, an increase of £8,719 compared to our income generation figure for 2021 which was £6,761. CIAC relied on income generation for 2021, but, upon becoming fully operational at OISC L3, a decision was taken to seek grant funding whilst building greater momentum with a larger base of fee earners to offset the high demand for pro bono services. Income for 2022 will exceed £80,000.
Thank you
The continuing success of CIAC would not be possible without help from the people and organisations named below:
Volunteers: Brid, Ghalia, Jane, Karen, Marita, Rosemary, Sana, Kamal, Laszlo, Fiza, Hadeel, Ahmad,
Open Doors Prince’s Avenue Methodist Church John Donkersley for providing immigration law supervision Penny Edgar Pippa Robson of North Bank Forum for support and advice Naomi Rosenberg for developing and maintaining case management British Red Cross University of Hull Hull’s Help for Refugees Hull City Council Refugee Team Dame Diana Johnson MP and team Emma Hardy MP and team Karl Turner MP and team
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