Annual Report 2022/23 SAMARITANS Chiltem Whatever you'rethcing *- 116 123 123
Introduction
In my third and final directors report I’m going to avoid using the ‘P’ word that has been a big factor in my previous reports. The last year has finally been the year that things are largely back to ‘normal’ and in the branch that feeling of normality has returned. We’re seeing the branch buzzing with energy again, and the occasions when we’re finding larger groups of volunteers in the branch at the same time are becoming more frequent.
At the time of writing the number of active listening volunteers stands at 112 with 5 new Samaritans shortly joining the rota. I feel very pleased that we have already achieved the target I set in 2021 to recover our number of active listening volunteers to 110 by the end of 2023. We are starting to see the impact of higher active volunteer numbers on the rota with the branch now not having to close as many shifts as we were this time last year. The table below illustrates how far we’ve come in the last year and is down to the tremendous efforts of everyone in the branch and I’d like to thank everyone who has volunteered for the branch over the last year and had a hand in allowing us to support so many callers:
| Number of Volunteers Supporting Callers |
Hours on the Phone |
Phone Calls Answered |
Emails Replied To |
Web Chats |
Shift Opening **Percentage ** |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2022 | 94 | 278 | 1,049 | 404 | 58 | 81% |
| August 2023 | 107 | 350 | 1,208 | 470 | 58 | 93% |
Training
The Training Team has had a period of relative stability after a lot of changes in the last 3 years. The 2 Deputy Directors (DDs) jointly running Training have bought in more volunteers into the team to help deliver sessions and very importantly help with skills practice for the new Samaritans. The Team have once again had to accommodate further changes to the Core Development training material, but there is now a more structured way of changes being made at limited times and with plenty of notice so the impact of such changes should be reduced in future.
Whilst the training is now delivered face-to-face there are an increasing number of on-line modules for new Samaritans to get to grips with and they are definitely well prepared for their listening duties when they have completed their training and mentored duties. For the future, the financial position resulting from the legacies the branch has received will give us the option to provide more space for training in the future.
Recruitment
The Recruitment Team has a had a period of relative stability to get the selection through interview process working smoothly. Recently there have been changes in the team with a new Recruitment Deputy Director and a new Support Volunteer to take on the extensive admin tasks that underpin the recruitment process. Due to the backlog of candidates that built up during 2022 and early 2023 a recruitment freeze was introduced during the spring/summer of this year to ensure we weren’t interviewing candidates that we couldn’t train within a year. That freeze has now been lifted and the team are looking to fill places on the Core Development courses running in January and May 2024.
In an analysis of recruitment during 2022/23 it was identified that there are a number of potential volunteers who get selected at interview who then never train. Some of these are changes in personal circumstances and they let us know but some just seem to disappear. More investigation will be carried out to try and resolve this.
Outreach
Outreach has restarted slowly and has been hampered by another change of Outreach DD due to a resignation. The Outreach DD role is now shared between 2 volunteers and Outreach is slowly getting going again. The focus of Outreach currently is getting back into the pattern of doing more talks in schools to raise awareness of Samaritans amongst young people, and to get involved in community events in our target areas of Aylesbury, Chesham and High Wycombe. The branch recently had a stand in the Community Involvement Area at the Aylesbury Party in the Park
2
event with over a dozen volunteers doing shifts on the stand. There is also a stand at the Peace in the Park in Chesham which is taking place on the day of the AGM and where again over a dozen volunteers will be attending.
Prison Listeners
The listener scheme at Aylesbury Prison was restarted in August 2022 at that time there were no listeners operating in the prison. I was recently at a meeting at the prison in August 2023 where there were 19 trained listeners in the room! That is testament to the tremendous work done by the Prisons Team in running 3 listener training courses over the last year. The number of listeners fluctuates greatly as trained listeners transfer to other prisons or are released, but right now it’s wonderful to see it being so high.
Volunteer Support
The Team has continued to operate with the same philosophy as under the previous DD and has been there for volunteers who are struggling with any aspect of their duties or where personal circumstances are affecting their ability to do their shifts.
Volunteers have been looked after with great care and whilst the level of resignations in the current year has been roughly the same as in previous years, it includes some volunteers who have been on long term Leave of Absences (LOA) of 2 years or more.
Dayleaders
As at August 2023 the branch had 27 active Dayleaders. Throughout the year there has always been a Dayleader available to support volunteers on shift and the branch has not had to close a shift because there is no Dayleader available.
The Dayleaders continue to provide excellent support for volunteers on shift and make sure that volunteers are able to download fully after every shift. There is real care given to support volunteers who have taken particularly tough calls.
The use of the screensaver to provide information to on-shift volunteers has been developed further so it can be updated remotely meaning that the information presented is much easier to keep up to date. Recently 2 volunteers have jointly taken on a new role of Branch Hub liaison, and they will be working with the Dayleaders in supporting callers who have been referred to the Caller Support and Safeguarding Hub by Branch volunteers
External Relations
The annual cycling event went ahead again this year and raised just over £17,000, which is about £3,000 up on last year when it returned after the enforced break. As well as the huge positive impact on the branch’s finances, it is a massive publicity event for us and creates so much goodwill. It’s heart-warming to see local residents coming over to feeding stations and bringing the volunteers cups of tea and stopping for a chat.
A new volunteer at the branch has recently completed a walk across Scotland with the proceeds going to the branch. She had set a target to raise £5,000 which she smashed by raising £7,500! This was accompanied by a very entertaining and informative blog and some lovely photos (one of which is on the front page of this report).
Regional Prison Support Officer Role
A listening volunteer from the branch with extensive experience of the Listener scheme has taken on the role as Regional Prison Support Officer (RPSO) which had been unfilled for a number of months. It’s wonderful to see this role finally being filled and branches in the region receiving support for their Prison Teams. There are several prisons covered by branches in our region and having this experience of prisons available to other Branch Prison Support Officers is having a huge impact, with lots of positive feedback from branches that support prisons.
3
The Future
I’d like to thank everyone who has supported the branch during the last 12 months. We’re all volunteers and without the huge support we receive we wouldn’t be able to carry on being there for our callers.
The branches financial position is extremely strong having been boosted by a number of generous legacies, including a very sizeable one from a former volunteer. This strong financial position enabled the branch to make an additional donation to Samaritans Central Office of £140,000 to help fund the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) project which is essential to ensure that the Samaritans listening service can continue to operate as the national telephone network is updated. This donation was made in May 2023 and is therefore not included in the 2022/23 accounts in this report. The sizeable legacy mentioned was received in April 2023 and is also not reflected in the 2022/23 accounts in this report.
The Trustees have commissioned an architect to look at how the branch premises could be refurbished and extended to make them more sustainable for the future. The main goal is to increase the size of the Operations Room as this will enable more shifts to be run with 3 volunteers at times when there are higher numbers of callers. Currently 3 volunteer shifts are not as effective as they could be due to the booths being too close together which results in excessive noise when all volunteers are on calls. The increased volunteer numbers are now such that 3 volunteer shifts are now starting to become feasible and is clearly a key benefit to our callers.
Another key requirement is to create more space for Training as the current space is inadequate with training groups being squashed into the current training room and breakout sessions happening in far from ideal places. There is also a long list of other requirements including replacing the roof (which is now 100 years old), installing solar panels to help reduce future energy bills, improving the car park layout and surface. A number of alternative plans have been produced and reviewed, with the nature of the plot and the current layout of the building adding complexity to the process.
The Trustees and BLT will be reviewing the options and the estimated costings to arrive at an agreed approach for the long-term future of the branch premises. There is a balance to be struck to ensure the funds spent on improvements to the branch premises will result in clear benefits to branch volunteers and our callers. This is a complex thing to work through and will take time to get right. The branch is very fortunate to be in this position and also to have both a strong BLT and Board of Trustees to work together to arrive at a plan that satisfies both the operational needs of the branch whilst making most effective use of the fund available. This will then allow excess funds to be passed to Central Charity to help fund further initiatives to benefit our callers.
Best wishes,
Stephen Director
Chiltern Samaritans Trustees from April 2023
Stephen Weir Director Ex-Officio from Jan 2021 Peter Cooper Treasurer Ex-Officio from June 2018 Simon Rubin Elected from July 2018
Linda Rawlinson Elected from July 2019
We’d like to express our thanks to all those who have contributed to Chiltern Samaritans during the past 12 months.
Businesses/Organisations :
The Entertainer, SHJ Medical Gas Specialists, Malt the Brewery, Chesham Graphics Design, CJ O’Shea & Co, RH Amar.
Buff Davis Elected from June 2020
Keith Bradford Elected from June 2020 Amanda Weaver Elected from June 2021
In addition, we give our special thanks to the numerous individual donors, and those who have given a donation.
4
31-Mar-23
ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT 2022/2023
Income & Expenditure Account
| Year to Date | Prior Year to date | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ||
| Gift Aid & Personal Donations | 2,421 | 12,911 |
| In Memoriam/Legacies | 73,406 | 64,811 |
| Local Organisations & Business | 6,380 | 8,820 |
| Grants & Prisons | 427 | 50 |
| Local Council & Churches | 0 | 788 |
| Fund Raising - Branch & Local Activity | 43,842 | 23,877 |
| Interest from Assets | 3,318 | 2,260 |
| Other Income | 0 | 14 |
| ______ 129,795 |
______ 113,530 |
|
| Direct Expenses | ||
| Marketing | 483 | 280 |
| Telephones | 1,991 | 2,383 |
| Outreach | 24 | (79) |
| Prisons | 374 | 71 |
| Volunteer Recruitment & Training | 1,767 | 1,651 |
| Caller Support | 160 | 66 |
| Fundraising - Branch and Local Activities | 6,285 | 3,406 |
| Volunteer Duties Expenses | 3,099 | 2,674 |
| ______ 14,184 |
______ 10,451 |
|
| ______ | _ | |
| Gross Profit/(Loss): | 115,611 | 103,079 |
| Overheads | ||
| Administration Expenses | 1,961 | 1,972 |
| Housekeeping | 3,203 | 2,907 |
| Property Maintenance | 9,267 | 7,291 |
| Branch Furniture & Equipment | 1,748 | 1,130 |
| Professional fees | 1,144 | 236 |
| Fuel And Power | 3,027 | (257) |
| Property & Water Rates | 1,395 | 1,411 |
| Property & Public Liability Insurance | 1,347 | 1,067 |
| Annual Contribution to Samaritans | 39,910 | 51,533 |
| ______ 63,002 |
______ 67,290 |
|
| Excess of Income over Expenditure | 52,609 | 35,789 |
5
BALANCE SHEET 31[st] March 2023
| Fixed Assets Investments Current Assets Sundry Debtors/Prepayments (577) Reserve Account 180,643 Bank Account - No 1 11,532 Bank Account - No 3 8,012 _ Current Liabilities Sundry Creditors 0 Samaritans' Contruibution 50,615 Buckinghamshire Crisis Fund 3,823 _ Current Assets less Current Liabilities: Total Assets less Current Liabilities: Capital & Reserves Funds Brought Forward 156,063 Income & Expenditure Account for year to date 52,609 __ |
63,500 199,610 54,438 145,172 |
|---|---|
| 208,672 | |
| 208,672 |
Monetary Fixed Assets
The Samaritans’ centre is a freehold tenure and was purchased at a historical cost of £21,899
Reserve Policy
We have no guaranteed source of income. Our reserves policy states that unrestricted reserves will be kept in the region of 125-150% of the average annual running costs of the previous three years. This policy is being reviewed annually in the first quarter of the new financial year.
On behalf of the Trustees.
Stephen Weir (Branch Director) Peter Cooper (Treasurer)
Independent Examiners Report
To the Trustees of Chiltern Samaritans on accounts for the period ending 31st March 2023 set out above.
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirement:
a) to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act, and
b) to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act have not been met.
Vince Parry, Independent Examiner, Amersham
6
Annual Report 2022/23 SAMARITANS Chiltem Whatever you'rethcing *- 116 123 123
Introduction
In my third and final directors report I’m going to avoid using the ‘P’ word that has been a big factor in my previous reports. The last year has finally been the year that things are largely back to ‘normal’ and in the branch that feeling of normality has returned. We’re seeing the branch buzzing with energy again, and the occasions when we’re finding larger groups of volunteers in the branch at the same time are becoming more frequent.
At the time of writing the number of active listening volunteers stands at 112 with 5 new Samaritans shortly joining the rota. I feel very pleased that we have already achieved the target I set in 2021 to recover our number of active listening volunteers to 110 by the end of 2023. We are starting to see the impact of higher active volunteer numbers on the rota with the branch now not having to close as many shifts as we were this time last year. The table below illustrates how far we’ve come in the last year and is down to the tremendous efforts of everyone in the branch and I’d like to thank everyone who has volunteered for the branch over the last year and had a hand in allowing us to support so many callers:
| Number of Volunteers Supporting Callers |
Hours on the Phone |
Phone Calls Answered |
Emails Replied To |
Web Chats |
Shift Opening **Percentage ** |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2022 | 94 | 278 | 1,049 | 404 | 58 | 81% |
| August 2023 | 107 | 350 | 1,208 | 470 | 58 | 93% |
Training
The Training Team has had a period of relative stability after a lot of changes in the last 3 years. The 2 Deputy Directors (DDs) jointly running Training have bought in more volunteers into the team to help deliver sessions and very importantly help with skills practice for the new Samaritans. The Team have once again had to accommodate further changes to the Core Development training material, but there is now a more structured way of changes being made at limited times and with plenty of notice so the impact of such changes should be reduced in future.
Whilst the training is now delivered face-to-face there are an increasing number of on-line modules for new Samaritans to get to grips with and they are definitely well prepared for their listening duties when they have completed their training and mentored duties. For the future, the financial position resulting from the legacies the branch has received will give us the option to provide more space for training in the future.
Recruitment
The Recruitment Team has a had a period of relative stability to get the selection through interview process working smoothly. Recently there have been changes in the team with a new Recruitment Deputy Director and a new Support Volunteer to take on the extensive admin tasks that underpin the recruitment process. Due to the backlog of candidates that built up during 2022 and early 2023 a recruitment freeze was introduced during the spring/summer of this year to ensure we weren’t interviewing candidates that we couldn’t train within a year. That freeze has now been lifted and the team are looking to fill places on the Core Development courses running in January and May 2024.
In an analysis of recruitment during 2022/23 it was identified that there are a number of potential volunteers who get selected at interview who then never train. Some of these are changes in personal circumstances and they let us know but some just seem to disappear. More investigation will be carried out to try and resolve this.
Outreach
Outreach has restarted slowly and has been hampered by another change of Outreach DD due to a resignation. The Outreach DD role is now shared between 2 volunteers and Outreach is slowly getting going again. The focus of Outreach currently is getting back into the pattern of doing more talks in schools to raise awareness of Samaritans amongst young people, and to get involved in community events in our target areas of Aylesbury, Chesham and High Wycombe. The branch recently had a stand in the Community Involvement Area at the Aylesbury Party in the Park
2
event with over a dozen volunteers doing shifts on the stand. There is also a stand at the Peace in the Park in Chesham which is taking place on the day of the AGM and where again over a dozen volunteers will be attending.
Prison Listeners
The listener scheme at Aylesbury Prison was restarted in August 2022 at that time there were no listeners operating in the prison. I was recently at a meeting at the prison in August 2023 where there were 19 trained listeners in the room! That is testament to the tremendous work done by the Prisons Team in running 3 listener training courses over the last year. The number of listeners fluctuates greatly as trained listeners transfer to other prisons or are released, but right now it’s wonderful to see it being so high.
Volunteer Support
The Team has continued to operate with the same philosophy as under the previous DD and has been there for volunteers who are struggling with any aspect of their duties or where personal circumstances are affecting their ability to do their shifts.
Volunteers have been looked after with great care and whilst the level of resignations in the current year has been roughly the same as in previous years, it includes some volunteers who have been on long term Leave of Absences (LOA) of 2 years or more.
Dayleaders
As at August 2023 the branch had 27 active Dayleaders. Throughout the year there has always been a Dayleader available to support volunteers on shift and the branch has not had to close a shift because there is no Dayleader available.
The Dayleaders continue to provide excellent support for volunteers on shift and make sure that volunteers are able to download fully after every shift. There is real care given to support volunteers who have taken particularly tough calls.
The use of the screensaver to provide information to on-shift volunteers has been developed further so it can be updated remotely meaning that the information presented is much easier to keep up to date. Recently 2 volunteers have jointly taken on a new role of Branch Hub liaison, and they will be working with the Dayleaders in supporting callers who have been referred to the Caller Support and Safeguarding Hub by Branch volunteers
External Relations
The annual cycling event went ahead again this year and raised just over £17,000, which is about £3,000 up on last year when it returned after the enforced break. As well as the huge positive impact on the branch’s finances, it is a massive publicity event for us and creates so much goodwill. It’s heart-warming to see local residents coming over to feeding stations and bringing the volunteers cups of tea and stopping for a chat.
A new volunteer at the branch has recently completed a walk across Scotland with the proceeds going to the branch. She had set a target to raise £5,000 which she smashed by raising £7,500! This was accompanied by a very entertaining and informative blog and some lovely photos (one of which is on the front page of this report).
Regional Prison Support Officer Role
A listening volunteer from the branch with extensive experience of the Listener scheme has taken on the role as Regional Prison Support Officer (RPSO) which had been unfilled for a number of months. It’s wonderful to see this role finally being filled and branches in the region receiving support for their Prison Teams. There are several prisons covered by branches in our region and having this experience of prisons available to other Branch Prison Support Officers is having a huge impact, with lots of positive feedback from branches that support prisons.
3
The Future
I’d like to thank everyone who has supported the branch during the last 12 months. We’re all volunteers and without the huge support we receive we wouldn’t be able to carry on being there for our callers.
The branches financial position is extremely strong having been boosted by a number of generous legacies, including a very sizeable one from a former volunteer. This strong financial position enabled the branch to make an additional donation to Samaritans Central Office of £140,000 to help fund the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) project which is essential to ensure that the Samaritans listening service can continue to operate as the national telephone network is updated. This donation was made in May 2023 and is therefore not included in the 2022/23 accounts in this report. The sizeable legacy mentioned was received in April 2023 and is also not reflected in the 2022/23 accounts in this report.
The Trustees have commissioned an architect to look at how the branch premises could be refurbished and extended to make them more sustainable for the future. The main goal is to increase the size of the Operations Room as this will enable more shifts to be run with 3 volunteers at times when there are higher numbers of callers. Currently 3 volunteer shifts are not as effective as they could be due to the booths being too close together which results in excessive noise when all volunteers are on calls. The increased volunteer numbers are now such that 3 volunteer shifts are now starting to become feasible and is clearly a key benefit to our callers.
Another key requirement is to create more space for Training as the current space is inadequate with training groups being squashed into the current training room and breakout sessions happening in far from ideal places. There is also a long list of other requirements including replacing the roof (which is now 100 years old), installing solar panels to help reduce future energy bills, improving the car park layout and surface. A number of alternative plans have been produced and reviewed, with the nature of the plot and the current layout of the building adding complexity to the process.
The Trustees and BLT will be reviewing the options and the estimated costings to arrive at an agreed approach for the long-term future of the branch premises. There is a balance to be struck to ensure the funds spent on improvements to the branch premises will result in clear benefits to branch volunteers and our callers. This is a complex thing to work through and will take time to get right. The branch is very fortunate to be in this position and also to have both a strong BLT and Board of Trustees to work together to arrive at a plan that satisfies both the operational needs of the branch whilst making most effective use of the fund available. This will then allow excess funds to be passed to Central Charity to help fund further initiatives to benefit our callers.
Best wishes,
Stephen Director
Chiltern Samaritans Trustees from April 2023
Stephen Weir Director Ex-Officio from Jan 2021 Peter Cooper Treasurer Ex-Officio from June 2018 Simon Rubin Elected from July 2018
Linda Rawlinson Elected from July 2019
We’d like to express our thanks to all those who have contributed to Chiltern Samaritans during the past 12 months.
Businesses/Organisations :
The Entertainer, SHJ Medical Gas Specialists, Malt the Brewery, Chesham Graphics Design, CJ O’Shea & Co, RH Amar.
Buff Davis Elected from June 2020
Keith Bradford Elected from June 2020 Amanda Weaver Elected from June 2021
In addition, we give our special thanks to the numerous individual donors, and those who have given a donation.
4
31-Mar-23
ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT 2022/2023
Income & Expenditure Account
| Year to Date | Prior Year to date | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ||
| Gift Aid & Personal Donations | 2,421 | 12,911 |
| In Memoriam/Legacies | 73,406 | 64,811 |
| Local Organisations & Business | 6,380 | 8,820 |
| Grants & Prisons | 427 | 50 |
| Local Council & Churches | 0 | 788 |
| Fund Raising - Branch & Local Activity | 43,842 | 23,877 |
| Interest from Assets | 3,318 | 2,260 |
| Other Income | 0 | 14 |
| ______ 129,795 |
______ 113,530 |
|
| Direct Expenses | ||
| Marketing | 483 | 280 |
| Telephones | 1,991 | 2,383 |
| Outreach | 24 | (79) |
| Prisons | 374 | 71 |
| Volunteer Recruitment & Training | 1,767 | 1,651 |
| Caller Support | 160 | 66 |
| Fundraising - Branch and Local Activities | 6,285 | 3,406 |
| Volunteer Duties Expenses | 3,099 | 2,674 |
| ______ 14,184 |
______ 10,451 |
|
| ______ | _ | |
| Gross Profit/(Loss): | 115,611 | 103,079 |
| Overheads | ||
| Administration Expenses | 1,961 | 1,972 |
| Housekeeping | 3,203 | 2,907 |
| Property Maintenance | 9,267 | 7,291 |
| Branch Furniture & Equipment | 1,748 | 1,130 |
| Professional fees | 1,144 | 236 |
| Fuel And Power | 3,027 | (257) |
| Property & Water Rates | 1,395 | 1,411 |
| Property & Public Liability Insurance | 1,347 | 1,067 |
| Annual Contribution to Samaritans | 39,910 | 51,533 |
| ______ 63,002 |
______ 67,290 |
|
| Excess of Income over Expenditure | 52,609 | 35,789 |
5
BALANCE SHEET 31[st] March 2023
| Fixed Assets Investments Current Assets Sundry Debtors/Prepayments (577) Reserve Account 180,643 Bank Account - No 1 11,532 Bank Account - No 3 8,012 _ Current Liabilities Sundry Creditors 0 Samaritans' Contruibution 50,615 Buckinghamshire Crisis Fund 3,823 _ Current Assets less Current Liabilities: Total Assets less Current Liabilities: Capital & Reserves Funds Brought Forward 156,063 Income & Expenditure Account for year to date 52,609 __ |
63,500 199,610 54,438 145,172 |
|---|---|
| 208,672 | |
| 208,672 |
Monetary Fixed Assets
The Samaritans’ centre is a freehold tenure and was purchased at a historical cost of £21,899
Reserve Policy
We have no guaranteed source of income. Our reserves policy states that unrestricted reserves will be kept in the region of 125-150% of the average annual running costs of the previous three years. This policy is being reviewed annually in the first quarter of the new financial year.
On behalf of the Trustees.
Stephen Weir (Branch Director) Peter Cooper (Treasurer)
Independent Examiners Report
To the Trustees of Chiltern Samaritans on accounts for the period ending 31st March 2023 set out above.
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirement:
a) to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act, and
b) to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act have not been met.
Vince Parry, Independent Examiner, Amersham
6