Trustees’ Annual Report 01/04/2020 – 31/03/2021
COMPAS Charity (Charity number: 1176025) Registered office: 19, Fitzwilliam Street in Peterborough, PE1 2RU
Annual Review & Financial Statement 2020-2021
CONTENTS
| Legal and administrative information | 3 |
|---|---|
| Board of Trustees’ report | 4 |
| Overview of activities and projects | 8 |
| Financial Report | 12 |
| Independent examiner’s report on the accounts | 13 |
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Legal and Administrative information
| Board of Trustees | Beverley Carpenter | Chair |
|---|---|---|
| Hana Rafajova | Secretary | |
| Zdenka Kolbabkova | Treasurer | |
| Kamila Laurynova | (resigned 10/2020) | |
| Premysl Dvorak |
(resigned 10/2020) | |
| Chief Executive Officer | Petr Torak MBE | |
| Deputy CEO | Morgan Fitzsimons | |
| Charity number | 1176025 | |
| Registered address | COMPAS Charity | |
| 19, Fitzwilliam Street | ||
| Peterborough | ||
| PE1 2RU | ||
| Bank | HSBC bank Plc. | |
| Accountant | Money Talks Accountancy Ltd | |
| Independent Examiner | Joanna Fox ACMA | |
| Constitution adopted | 10thMarch 2018 | |
| Number of Members | 17 | |
| Affiliations | 1. Peterborough Community Group Forum (PCGF) | |
| 2. Association of Czech and Slovak Schools (ACSSUK) | ||
| 3. Peterborough Council for Voluntary Sector (PCVS) | ||
| Policies in place | Safeguarding, Equal Opportunities, Code of Conduct, | |
| Data Protection, Financial Procedures, GDPR, H&S, | ||
| Web privacy, Whistleblowing, Fire procedure, COVID |
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Board of Trustees’ report
The Board of Trustees submit their annual report and the financial statements of COMPAS Charity for the period of 1[st] April 2020 to 31[st] March 2021. The Board of Trustees confirms that the annual report and financial statements of the Charity comply with current statutory requirements, including the Charity Act 2011, as well as the requirements of the Charity's governing document.
COMPAS (previously known as Community Partnership Group) was established in 2010 as an Un-incorporated community group. In 2017 COMPAS became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.
Objectives of COMPAS Charity and examples of activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objectives are:
| OBJECTIVES | EXAMPLES |
|---|---|
| Relief in need of members of migrant communities by the provision of advice, support and information or in any other way required; and by engaging with service providers, public bodies, institutions and organisations to enable those entities to better adapt their services, policies and activities to the needs of the migrant communities. |
• Advice centre • Workshops • Advice over the phone and via social media • Assistance to schools, social services, Council etc |
| Promotion of social inclusion for the public benefit by working with people who are socially excluded on the grounds of their ethnic origin, religion, belief or creed (in particular, members of the Roma community) by developing the capacity and skills of members of that community to assist them to integrate with and participate more fully in society. |
• Roma mentoring projects (‘ROGA’) • Food bank • COVID-19 aid |
| The advancement of citizenship and community development by promoting a better understanding within British society; and by promoting civic responsibility, good citizenship and volunteering. |
• Providing regular updates on COVID regulations • Cooperation with police on COVID patrols |
| The advancement of education (including social and physical training) of people in such ways as the charity trustees think fit, including by promoting the learning of native languages (including but not limited to Czech and Slovak); supporting parents to engage with their children’s education; and mentoring and coaching young people. |
• Czech language classes for children. • Roma classes for adults • ROGA mentoring project • Sport & nutrition classes for children andyouths |
The achievements of the past year would not have been possible without support from the following organisations: Tudor Trust, Barnardos, Peterborough City Council, MZV, MSMT, PCVS, Queen Katherine Academy, CCF, Co-op, Near Neighbours, Neighbourly and other supporters.
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We are also very grateful to all volunteers, staff, members and other supporters promoting the work of COMPAS Charity.
Like every other voluntary and community organisation, COMPAS Charity has been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since April 2020, COMPAS had to adopt a new approach to our service delivery and find new and innovative ways for assisting the most vulnerable members of our communities.
Within a very short period, we have been able to mobilise volunteers across the city and to start providing humanitarian help to people that needed the most. We have set up a food bank, started sewing face masks and initiated regular food delivery to people affected by COVID-19.
Picture 1 – Face mask sewing (L. Holub)
Picture 3 – Bracelets and motivational quotes
Picture 5 – Fresh fruit, veg and bakery products
Picture 2 - Food bank
Picture 4 – Fresh hot food ready for delivery
Picture 6 - Food parcels prepared for delivery
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The humanitarian help we were able to provide to the most vulnerable people in our city would not be possible without the generous financial donation from the Czech Government that had responded very quickly to the pandemic situation. With the financial donation from the Czech Government, we were able to run the food bank, distribute the food and other items to peoples’ homes, to provide advisory services and to saw and distribute face masks.
To utilise the time during which was COMPAS hub closed to public, we have been renovating and decorating the venue to make it even more cosy and purposeful. First of all, we have sanded down the dance floor and then we had varnished it.
Picture 7 – Sanding off in progress Picture 8 - Varnishing
The other major work had been done upstairs, in what used by the musical studio. During the first lockdown, we have been told by young people about the effect of the pandemic on their physical and mental health. Many children and young people were spending all their time at home and had no physical activity and were not eating well. Because of this concern, we have decided it to transform the upstairs room into a community gym. We have decorated the space, improved the lighting and equipped it with equipment for cardio and weight training.
Picture 9 – Weights corner
Picture 10 – Cardio corner
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The other major transformation had been done to the downstairs office that had been used as a storage room. This room had been transformed into a modern office, with one specific purpose!
Since 2012, COMPAS has been facilitating outreach Consular days for the Slovak Embassy. Every month, the Slovak Consulate came to Peterborough to do birth certificates, passports and other official business. This had been enormous help for the Slovak community, as adults didn’t have to take a day off work, didn’t have to risk a penalty by taking their children from the school and didn’t have to spend hundreds of pounds on travel costs. COMPAS had been co-facilitating this service for over 5 years. During that time, we also tried to get the Czech Consulate to provide the same service, but due to lack of human resources and necessary technical equipment, the Czech consulate was unable to provide this service.
During the first lockdown, CEO Petr Torak met with HE Libor Secka, the Czech Ambassador, and discussed with him the possibility of opening the Czech Honorary Consulate in Peterborough. At the beginning of 2021, the Honorary Consulate had been established by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and Petr Torak MBE has been appointed as the Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic.
The Honorary Consulate will provide significant assistance to the Czech community, especially now, during the post-Brexit time when EU nationals must apply for EU Settlement Scheme. Petr Torak will be able to help Czech citizens with translation of UK birth certificates, collection of passports and legalisation agenda.
Even though this had been very tough year, we are pleased that COMPAS Charity was able to support the most vulnerable members of our communities and to provide 1[st] class service to people from all walks of life. We had to cancel very popular events such as celebration of International Romani Day, Children’s’ Day, Witch burning festival, community trips and many other events. But we have been able to launch completely new activities and to upstand to this hardship.
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Overview of activities and projects conducted in the reporting period (in no particular order)
| NAME OF PROJECT / EVENT |
DETAILS | PHOTO |
|---|---|---|
| ORION School | Fridays from 17:30 to 19:30 and also online during the pandemic time (Teachers: Lucie Torakova and Kamila Laurynova) |
|
| WELCOME project |
The project is funded by Peterborough City Council and comes in two parts – a debate club and cooking/recipe-sharing club. The main aim is to get participants from various communities together and to share their culture, interests and experiences. The project continued during the pandemic over social media and YouTube. |
|
| Advice Centre | Advice in the areas of getting settled status, COVID-19, housing, employment, education, social benefits, etc. The provision of advice was available over social media during lockdowns. During the past 12 months, we have assisted over 2000 people. |
|
| St Nicholas Party | On 6thDecember, we have traditionally celebrated St. Nicholas party. For the first time in our existence, St Nicholas, angel and evil were delivering goody bags to children to their homes. The team had visited in total 30 homes and engaged with 78 children. |
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| I can & I will * Rap class * |
Xidus Pain was delivering rap music class to children and young people. |
|
|---|---|---|
| I can & I will * Table tennis * |
Under the instruction of Premysl and Kamila, this popular session was attended by children and their parents. |
|
| I can & I will * Boxing session * |
Experienced boxer Vojte Balog has been leading on the boxing sessions that take place every Friday afternoon. |
|
| I can & I will * Dance sessions * |
The aerobic dance sessions were led by “Kong” who has provided very energetic experience for children and adults. |
|
| I can & I will * Roma dance * |
Cerchena Roma dance is led by Pavla Kandracova. |
|
| I can & I will * Running class * |
The running sessions were led by experienced runner Premysl Dvorak who has been offering sessions for groups and also on individual basis, depending on the COVID-19 restrictions. |
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| COVID patrols | With the support of Peterborough City Council, we have been able to support Cambs police and Covid marshals by sending out our multi- lingual staff that was engaging with youths that were in breach of Covid regulations during the lockdowns. |
|
|---|---|---|
| ROGA mentoring project |
We have continued working with the Queen Katherine Academy. We are supplying two contractors to assist the Academy with engagement with Czech/Slovak and Romanian Roma pupils and parents. |
|
| Roma awareness course |
This course was led by an expert in Romani studies, Michal Mizigar. He has delivered 15 sessions to front line professionals from police, councils, health organisations, schools and many other organisations. The videos are available on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?l ist=PLSKyNjgEeovfu1tG6BFq8SG nr2yt2P4iv |
|
| Roma language course |
The Romani studies expert, Michal Mizigar, had delivered series of Roma language classes to members of various communities. |
|
| Online resources | To assist clients requiring help with the EU Settlement scheme, we have recorded number of videos in Czech language to explain the application process and other necessities. The videos are available on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?l ist=PLSKyNjgEeoveEDfoc1zol75 NSqndu6_Z1 |
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| LFT testing | We have partnered up with Peterborough City Council and are offering free LFT testing for COVID-19 at our site. |
|
|---|---|---|
| See Hear Respond | We have been selected by Barnardo’s as their partner for service delivery in Peterborough. Between September 20 and March 21 we have been engaging with Roma children and young people and providing them with crisis support, assistance with re- integration into education and conducted outreach work to engage with Roma children in street corners and local parks. |
|
| Together we can | This project was funded by Near Neighbours and the aim of the project was to inspire young Roma people and their parents to access higher education and to aim for front line jobs. We have recorded interviews with successful Roma positive role models, including lawyers, police officer, entrepreneurs, health workers, sports reps and many other. All videos are available on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?l ist=PLSKyNjgEeovcM- ZbBjOTrPaIOP4W-W9K0 |
|
| Right to health care | On behalf of Essex University, we have conducted interviews with members of Roma community in respect their general experiences and attitudes towards health provisions in the UK. The outcomes will be used for further research and improvements of the health service provisions. |
|
| Celebration of 10th anniversary |
To mark our 10thanniversary, we have created a video to demonstrate the work and achievements of COMPAS Charity. You can watch the video here:https://youtu.be/xb1t5_sTCgw |
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Financial Report
Reporting period from 01/04/2019 – 31/03/2020 Incorporating an Income and Expenditure Account
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Independent examiner’s report on the accounts
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