2023-03-31-accounts

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Trustees’ Annual Report
01/04/2022 – 31/03/2023
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COMPAS Charity (Charity number: 1176025) Registered office: 927, Bourges Boulevard, Peterborough, PE1 2AN

Annual Review & Financial Statement 2022-2023

Legal and administrative information	3
Board of Trustees’ report	4
Overview of activities and projects	5
Financial Report	13
Independent examiner’s report on the accounts	14

Legal and Administrative information

Board of Trustees	Beverley Carpenter
	Helena Ground
	Radim Licenik
	Roman Masaryk
Chief Executive Officer	Petr Torak MBE
Deputy CEO	Marko Strbak
Charity number	1176025
Registered address	COMPAS Charity
	927, Bourges Boulevard
	Peterborough, PE1 2AN
HR and H&S provider	Peninsula
Bank	HSBC Bank Plc.
Accountant	Money Talks Accountancy Ltd
Independent Examiner	Joanna Fox ACMA
Constitution adopted	10thMarch 2018
Number of Members	17
Affiliations	1.Consortium of Peterborough Community Groups (CPCG)
	2. Peterborough Community Group Forum (PCGF)
	2. Association of Czech and Slovak Schools (ACSSUK)
	3. Peterborough Council for Voluntary Sector (PCVS)
	4. Society of Czech & Slovak Doctors in the UK
Policies in place	Safeguarding, Equal Opportunities, Code of Conduct,
	Data Protection, Financial Procedures, GDPR, H&S,
	Web privacy, Whistleblowing, Fire procedure, COVID
	policies

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 2022 to 31[st] March 2023. 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 provision and breakfast club
The advancement of citizenship and community development by promoting a better understanding within British society; and by promoting civic responsibility, good citizenship and volunteering.	• Creating new community organisations across the UK • Assistance to front line services (NHS, police, Councils etc)
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.	• ROGA mentoring project • Carbon Monoxide alarms distribution and advice

The achievements of the past year would not have been possible without the support from the following organisations: Tudor Trust, Cadent Gas Ltd, Kent CCG, Cardiff Council, Newport Council, Peterborough City Council, Social Enterprise Kent, Queen Katharine Academy, Romodrom, Thomas Deacon Academy, Essex University, Lottery, ARU, MZV, Neighbourly, and other supporters.

We are also very grateful to all volunteers, staff, members, students on their study placements and other supporters promoting the work of COMPAS Charity.

Venue

One of the major developments for COMPAS, in the past 12 months, was the urgent need to move to a new venue. From July 2019 to beginning of 2022, Compas was based at 19, Fitzwilliam Street. The building belongs to a private landlord who did not maintain the building in a good condition and did not respond to our complaints of faulty heating, toilets, electricity, infestation and other issues. At the beginning of 2023, we co-created a new umbrella organisation for organisations that were in a similar situation to us. The organisation is called Consortium of Peterborough Community Groups (CPCG) and started negotiating with the Council and Peterborough Council to assist us to relocate. We had been offered couple of offices at a Gladstone Park Community Centre. This centre has been historically occupied and used by the local community and is situated in the heart of the most diverse part of Peterborough.

In this venue, we have rented a downstairs office for the advice centre. The office is accessible from the main road and is big enough for three advisers to see clients. The second office we rented is upstairs and is used for CEO, the Consulate and as a meeting room. Majority of stuff from the old building was sold and stuff from the gym had been stored into a secure storage.

The venue was officially opened on 6[th] May 2022, in the presence of all CPCG members, Czech and Lithuanian Embassy representatives, City Council and other officials.

Picture 1 – Front of advice centre Picture 2 – Official launch

Picture 3 – Upstairs office Picture 4 – Advice centre

Roma of Great Abilities (ROGA)

ROGA mentoring project continues to be one of the biggest areas of our work. In 2011, COMPAS had developed a mentoring project called ROGA that aims to motivate young Roma to access further education (Level 4 and above) and to develop useful skills that will enable them to take up front line jobs in teaching, law enforcement, NHS and other areas of public life.

ROGA methodology offers a holistic approach to mentoring and raising aspiration of Roma children and young people. It involves all the stakeholders – learners, parents, teachers, school management, community groups and leaders and public authorities.

Between the interim period, ROGA had been implemented across primary and secondary schools in Peterborough (Queen Katharine Academy and Thomas Deacon Academy), in Cardiff (Fitzalan High School, Willows High School, Cathays High School, Cantonian High School), Newport (Maindee primary school, Lliswerry High School, St Andrew’s Primary school, Pillgwenlly Primary primary school) and in Port Talbot (Sandfields Primary School, St Joseph’s RC School and Sixth Form, Ysgol Bae Baglan school).

Our team of mentors has increased, and we are currently delivering the mentoring sessions to Czech, Slovak and Romanian Roma pupils.

As part of the CPD (continuing professional development), we also offer teachers educational trips to Central and Eastern European countries. In the past 12 months, we have organised trips to Slovakia (3 trips), Czech Republic and within the UK.

Picture 5 – Visit to Czech Republic Picture 6 – Visit to SR (Kosice) Picture 7 - Engagement

As part of the project, we have also coordinated and attended number of other events and sessions during which we were able to introduce our ROGA methodology and to deliver CPD sessions. We have organised and assisted during celebration events of International Roma Day in Peterborough, Folkestone, Cardiff and Margate; at a conference in Bangor etc.

Picture 8 – Roma Day Folkestone Picture 9 – Roma Day Cardiff Picture 10 – Roma Day Peterborough

Advice provision

Free advice provision in the areas of job finding, EU settled status, housing, employment, education, social benefits, etc.

We have been offering advice service in Peterborough, Margate, Folkestone (until August 2022) and remotely via social media and over the phone.

The service is now offered 5 days a week, from 10am to 5pm, by 4 advisers. During the past 12 months, we have assisted over 2200 people. We are very grateful for the financial support from Romodrom and Cadent; without their support we wouldn’t be able to support that many clients!

Margate

With the support of SEK (Social Enterprise Kent) and NHS, we have been able to open a new COMPAS Charity branch, led by a local manager, Veronika Kroscenova. The branch is located at a small office / shop space, in one of the busiest and diverse part of Margate. Veronika has been running advice centre 3 days a week, youth engagement, cultural events and workshops.

Picture 11 – Front of the office Picture 12 -Youth engagement

Folkestone

The Folkestone branch was offering advice provision and youth activities until end of August 2022 but unfortunately, due to the end of funding, we had to close the branch down. We have also been funded by SEK (Social Enterprise Kent) for creating a campaign that will promote various jobs to migrant communities and also enable employers to recruit easier.

Picture 13 - Family engagement Picture 14 - Campaign

COVID-19 support

From March to September 2022, Compas had been funded by the Peterborough City Council to assist with promoting Covid vaccination and raising awareness amongst migrant communities. A team of four multi-lingual coordinators were engaging with members of public on the streets, shops, schools and during community events. We were also utilising social media and community leaders and influencers to spread the word.

Picture 15 – Covid clinic on Bourges Boulevard Picture 16 – Covid clinic in Central Park

Cadent Gas funding for Centres for Warmth

Compas Charity had been chosen as a charity to be supported by Cadent Gas company. We have been awarded with funding to continue providing advice provision and to extend the number of service hours and languages in which we provide the service. Thanks to this funding we are able to provide the service 5 days a week, from 10am to 5pm in Czech, Slovak, Portuguese, Romanian, Moldavian, Russian, Lithuanian and Romanes languages. We were also funded to help people through the time of raise of cost of living. We were able to distribute, free of charge, 40 slow cookers, electric blankets and lots of carbon monoxide alarms. We are also running a warm nights sessions for people that need to get something warm to eat or drink, whilst having a chat with us.

Picture 17 – Sushi session Picture 18 – Slow cookers session

Breakfast club

CPCG (Consortium of Peterborough Community Groups), of which Compas is a member of, had secured funding from Peterborough City Council to run breakfast club for pupils predominantly from Gladstone Primary Academy and from neighbouring schools. On average, we have given out 200 breakfast bags every Friday. This provision was offered from outside of our Compas office that is situated right next to the school entrance.

This feedback was sent to us at the end of the project by the school’s Assistant Headteacher:

To whom it may concern,

I am writing in support of the bid for further funding from COMPAS to provide free breakfasts to children from our community every Friday. The community served by our Academy includes many families who are on very low incomes and are finding the current cost of living crisis particularly difficult. Knowing that their children will be provided with a free breakfast without any means testing such as is necessary for free school meals qualification is a source of real comfort for many of our families and genuine support. I would urge you to consider extending funding for this activity so that it can continue whilst the cost-of-living crisis remains highly impactful on the lives and wellbeing of so many of our families, Paul Fountain, Assistant Headteacher GPA

Picture 19 – Breakfast club outside Compas Picture 20 – Breakfast club volunteers

Extended Hand

Over the past 12 years, Compas has moved from a small community group to a medium size charity with an international reputation. Very often we receive requests from people and organisations across the UK to assist them with creating and running community organisations and community events. Because of this demand, we have applied and successfully secured funding from Lottery to assist with setting up new organisations across the UK. During the project, we have managed to create or to help with running organisation that will provide community services to Roma, Latvian, Lithuanian and Nigerian communities.

Other events

Creating aspirations for higher education

Nelson College in London had recognised our role in promoting higher education and inspiring young Roma people to aim higher and therefore approached us to be part of two large events. The aim was to create aspirations for higher education and to promote Compas services.

Research facilitation

Compas Charity has got a wide reach into Roma communities across the UK and this has enabled us to raise the voice of this community. Number of universities and other institutions in the UK had approached Compas to participate or facilitate research within the Roma community. We have completed research focused on pre-natal and peri-natal experiences of migrant women, access to health, vaccination experiences and other topics.

St Nicholas party in Margate and Peterborough

The traditional pre-Christmas party that Compas has organised since 2012 took place in Peterborough and also in Margate.

Picture 24 – Margate Picture 25 – Peterborough

Czech Embassy in London

Compas had been invited by the Czech Embassy in London on numerous occasions to take part in various cultural and state events to represent the communities in Peterborough and Margate.

Picture 26 – Compas team with Her Excellency Marie Chatardova

Fundraising for Roma children in Slovakian settlements

During our educational trips to Slovakia, we have developed strong relationships with schools in Presov and surrounding areas and committed to fundraise for essential equipment for the schools and pupils. From the proceeds we were able to purchase school equipment, food and clothing and distribute it to schools in Jarovnice and Humenne.

Picture 27 – School equipment Picture 28 – Community centre Picture 29 – School in Jarovnice

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