**Trustees Report & Financial Statements** _**Trustees Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31st March 2023**_ ## **Introduction from the Chair** In the last five years we have offered 7,000 safe nights to survivors, have 50 hosts willing to offer their homes to survivors and have grown the operational team to meet the increased demand we are facing. This year saw 21 guests with 23 placements, from 12 different countries being hosted by Hope at Home and as the new three-year strategic plan is put into action (2023-2026) we expect this number to increase as we work towards achieving our vision that no survivor of slavery should have to sleep on the streets. After successfully navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2022-2023 has bought different challenges of its own. Several changes to legislation and policy have occurred that directly impact and affect the support survivors of modern slavery can access and reduce the protections the UK offers them. This has meant that the modern slavery landscape and sector continues to be a tough one to work in, it also however, highlights the importance of organisations like Hope at Home and the vital services they offer to those who need them. This year, as a Board, we have embarked on trustee recruitment, begun to implement the Charity Governance Code and recognised the need to increase our focus on Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). We recognise that these are not tick-box exercises and require ongoing thought and leadership, in recognition of this we have developed an EDI strategy, appointed an EDI lead and a plan of action to fill gaps identified as part of the Governance Code review, all of which we believe will stand us in good stead as the organisation looks to grow and develop. Looking forwards we have big plans to offer innovative accommodation options in collaboration with partners so we can work together to prevent homelessness and reduce the risk of retrafficking. The strategy has been developed based on research undertaken and in partnership with hosts, guests, the Board, the operational team, and partner organisations. As a result of these consultations and the evidence base our next three-year strategy will focus on two-key themes; providing safe homes and having a stronger voice to inform our own work and the wider sector. We are excited about seeing these plans come to fruition and working to ensure that survivors have the chance to be safely accommodated and supported as they rebuild their lives. This next year will also see me stepping down as the Chair of Hope at Home and handing the reins over to Steve Watson. Steve has spent the last five years working with Causeway, a national charity that exists to create lasting change for marginalised and vulnerable people, including survivors of modern slavery and those caught in the cycle of crime and exploitation. It has been a privilege to serve on and lead the Board for Hope at Home. I am proud of all that the team, the hosts and the trustees have achieved over the last five years that I have been involved and I am excited to see what is in store over the years to come. ## _**Kate Garbers**_ _**Introduction from the Chair**_ 2 ## **TRUSTEE REPORT OVERVIEW** ## **Objectives** The objective of the charity is to relieve the needs of people who are at risk of, or who have been subject to, modern slavery or human trafficking by providing access to safe housing within the community and by assisting in the provision of all the necessary support designed to enable individuals to rebuild their lives and become independent individuals and members of society. We achieve this by: Training and supporting volunteers to welcome a survivor into their homes for an agreed time period. Partnering with organisations across the UK to deliver holistic, wrap around support for survivors. ## **Public Benefit** The Trustees have referred to the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity's aims and objectives and planning its activities. Addressing modern slavery through providing accommodation, ensuring appropriate support, educating and influencing society and ensuring organisational sustainability are in the public interest as they; support the most vulnerable in our society and help to tackle some of the core reasons that slavery exists. ## **Mission statement** Providing safe homes for survivors of modern slavery by offering a range of innovative accommodation options in collaboration with other organisations. ## **Values** _**Excellence**_ **:** We strive to be professional, honourable and full of integrity in our work. _**Person focused:**_ We will always value the needs of individuals and care for them in a way that seeks to meet those needs. _**Pioneering & Ambitious:**_ We are innovative and will seek new solutions until our aims are achieved. _**Honouring:**_ We will always think the best of others and will be respectful in the way we treat and speak about them, understanding they are valued and bring a unique contribution. _**Collaborative:**_ We recognise the benefits of building partnerships with others in order to end human trafficking. Their expertise and input are important to us and we actively seek them out. _**Trustee report overview**_ 3 ## **2022-2023 Achievements** ## **Strategic pillars** Our strategic pillars for 2022-2023 have been: Finding Homes Equipping Hosts Strategic Enablers ## **Finding homes** From April 2022 to March 2023, we hosted 21 guests for a total of 2,747 nights. Two of these guests were placed with 2 different sets of hosts, so in all we had 23 guest placements. All these guests had been through or were still in the National Referral Mechanism (NRM - the government body which decides if there is enough evidence to conclusively prove that someone has been a victim of slavery). For more on the NRM, click here. ## **Guest demographics** **----- Start of picture text -----**
Negative CG
2
Male
6
Positive CG
5
Guest NRM decisions Guest Gender
Positive RG
14 Female
15
**----- End of picture text -----**
_**2022-2023 Achievements (p1)**_ 4 ## **2022 - 2023 Achievements** ## **Reason for referral** **----- Start of picture text -----**
15
Guest
10
comments
Our guests are positive about
their experiences with hosts:
5
“I still struggle with things
but I manage to pull myself
out of a bad place than I
0
used to. New experiences,
new people, feel less alone.
Before I moved in, it was just
me and I didn't have a family.
Now I have people I can go
to.”
Guest countries of origin
3
2
1
0
Prior to being hosted with us, all guests were either homeless or
vulnerable to homelessness.
Waiting asylum accommodationExiting NRMWaiting for local authority housingMove on from safehouseHomeless Other
UK
ZimbabweVietnamSwazilandSri LankaRomaniaNigeriaMongolia Iran HungaryGambiaEritreaAlbania
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_**2022-2023 Achievements (p2)**_ 5 ## **2022 - 2023 Achievements** Whilst with hosts, guests have taken part in training, volunteering, community groups and employment. **11** guests experienced a positive move-on. **5** guests have chosen to move on into unstable accommodation. The remaining **5** guests continued their placements into the next financial year. ## **Move-on destinations** **----- Start of picture text -----**
5
4
3
2
1
0
Asylum accommodationOther charity housingLocal authority housingPrivate rentedFamily/friends Other
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Guest involvement** Guests have inputted into Hope at Home by shortlisting and interviewing new staff, creating trauma-informed questions for guest surveys and inputting into ongoing strategy. We have welcomed their feedback. In order to find new hosts, we have held numerous online events, created targeted social media posts and spoken at several events. We have reached over 1,000 people. The reasons for some referrals not translating into placements included no available hosts in the required areas, possible guests changing their minds and choosing not to join us and unsuitable referrals which did not meet our eligibility criteria. _**2022-2023 Achievements (p3)**_ 6 ## **2022 - 2023 Achievements** ## **Equipping hosts** **12 sets of hosts** have been trained this year. Hosts vary in age and life stage from families with young children to retired couples. **100% of hosts** felt that the host training gave them the knowledge they needed to begin hosting. One set of hosts made this comment: **“The training was really great. There was loads of info, a lot of which I wouldn't have thought to ask so that was great! I also really appreciated the opportunities to reflect on my own thoughts and what I'd learned during the sessions. It was definitely an intense training course, but I know it would need to be to be able to cover everything and this helped me feel prepared for the undertaking of hosting! Overall, the training was AMAZING. Ceridwen was such a fantastic teacher and was really good at reassuring us and answering our questions. I really valued it!”** All hosts are offered a bi-monthly ‘host support’ session with other hosts which is facilitated by a member of the staff team. Living with someone who has experienced trauma can be tough and this support assists to promote well-being and coping strategies for hosts. As well as the above we are in weekly communication with hosts, liaising with the guest’s support worker when necessary. We also provide peer support via a hosts WhatsApp group which has been well utilised by hosts. 100% of hosts felt well supported by Hope at Home. _**2022-2023 Achievements (p4)**_ 7 ## **Our Partners** We work in partnership with agencies who refer into us and provide casework support for our guests. As we were developing our next three- year strategy, we held consultations with our key partners. This allowed them to offer feedback about Hope at Home as well as feed into the strategy moving forwards. Feedback from partners has been overwhelmingly positive: _**“How fantastic that your service exists. Reading the profile of the host made me feel instantly relieved the client would have somewhere understanding to receive her. The alternative was literally our office floor and there is not even heating in the office at the moment.”**_ _**“Recently my client was faced with a tough situation in a form of an eviction from her asylum accommodation due to issues with her working and being no longer classified as ‘destitute’ by the Home Office.**_ _**I was trying frantically to get her placed in any safe accommodation that I could and immediately thought of Hope at Home. Due to the time constraint, I was worried that I would not be able to find her accommodation in time for her eviction.**_ _**I made a referral and included all the details, and I am very happy to say that within 1 week of making this ‘urgent’ referral, my client was found a suitable host which she shared many similarities with. It went very smoothly and with no hassle and I cannot commend them enough for being so helpful with this.**_ _**I believe the team at Hope at Home has not only supported me, but my colleagues as well when they’ve needed, and I wanted it to be recognised.**_ _**Collaborative working with other agencies can be difficult for us at times, but the Hope at Home team has proven that this is essential in order to provide the best support for clients/hosts involved.”**_ _**Our partners**_ 8 ## **Strategic Enablers** Our strategic enablers are the substantial in-house, behind the scenes activities and people which assist & and ensure sustainable delivery of our services. This year we have achieved this by recruiting a Digital Communications Officer, responsible for social media, website, regular newsletters and other forms of communication. This has increased our reach on social media significantly as well as being able to use the website and other forms of digital communication more effectively. We have also recruited a Hub Development Coordinator in the Midlands which has enabled the Operations Director to concentrate on leadership and organisational development in conjunction with the CEO and Board. _**Strategic enablers**_ 9 ## **Future plans** April 2023 sees the launch of our exciting new three-year Strategic strategic plan (2023-2026). As well as continuing to offer high quality hosting placements for survivors of modern slavery, we are also looking to develop move on housing, consistent quality of support for guests, amplifying the voice of survivors both within our organisation and externally. We will also explore how we can use our data to drive influence in the wider sector. We will be recruiting a Hosting Manager to oversee the Hosting team whilst the Operation Director will look at the development of the new projects. _**Future plans**_ 10 ## **Risk management & safeguarding** ## **Our principal 2022-2023 risks were:** - Inappropriate hosts and placements. - Cost of living increases combined with the Homes for Ukraine scheme significantly affected host recruitment. Less people were available to host. Changes in legislation such as the Nationality and Borders Act which have impacted survivors in various ways. The Trustees acknowledge their responsibility for the management and control of the organisation and are involved in the key aspects of the risk management process, identifying risks and taking these into consideration when making decisions. An overall risk review activity is included in the Charity's annual governance calendar and is reviewed at each trustees meeting. The major risks, as above, to the Charity have been reviewed during the year, and control systems and policies are in place to ensure that risks are appropriately identified and managed at all levels of the organisation. No serious incidents have been reported in this financial year. Under the direction of the Trustees, the CEO has reviewed appropriate insurance and ensured that the cover provided is adequate for the services provided by the organisation. This will be revisited each year as the policies in place come up for renewal. In addition, we have outsourced HR to a third party who provides relevant expertise. As a result, the Trustees are confident that the organisation complies with current legislation and effectively manages the related risks. _**Risk management & safeguarding**_ 11 ## **Finance & Fundraising Review** ## **Our total income for the year was £215,877, an increase of £77,021 on the previous year** ## **Hope at Home supporters:** **----- Start of picture text -----**
Donations & fundraising
Grants Other
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
2022-2023 2021-2022
**----- End of picture text -----**
- Albert Gubay Foundation Albert Hunt Trust Arnold Clarke Foundation Bromley Trust Bromsgrove Soroptimists Commonweal Housing Crisis Eleanor Rathbone Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation Grace Trust - J & MC Trust - Marsh Charitable Trust National Lottery, Awards for all Pat Newman Memorial Trust Pat Newman Trust Sisters of the Holy Cross Society of the Holy Child Jesus Souter Foundation Southall Trust Stewardship The Blue Thread The McGhee Trust W.O. Street Charitable Foundation A number of generous individuals from the public. Our work is funded by a mixture of grant income, donations (from individuals, companies, and community groups), fundraising events and earned income. We are grateful for the valuable contribution of the above key organisations who supported our work over the past year. _**Finance & fundraising review**_ 12 ## **Expenditure Review** **Staff costs in order to deliver our charitable activities were circa £110,563, an increase of £41,059 (62%).** **Total expenditure for the year was £192,020, an increase of £77,160 (59%)** Fundraising costs Charitable activities (including staff costs) Governance & support **----- Start of picture text -----**
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
2022-2023 2021-2022
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Use of surplus funds** In this financial year we had a surplus of £23,857. We designated some funds (£55,000) as a Board towards our 2023 – 2024 costs as follows; - £35K for a new project or towards development costs. - £10K towards host allowances. - £10K towards staff costs. _**Expenditure review**_ 13 ## **Reserves policy** The trustees annually review the reserves policy and determined to maintain a level of unrestricted reserves of £50,000 within this financial year. This amount was reached to ensure the balance between having enough if needed but not too much that as an organisation we could not secure future finding. ## **Board of Trustees** ## **Administrative information** ## **Charity Number:** 1176802 **Registered Address:** PO Box 17404, Bromsgrove, B60 9NL The Trustees present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31st March 2023. The Accounts and Annual Report are required to comply with the requirements of and have therefore been prepared in accordance with the Charities Act 2022. _**Reserves policy & administrative information**_ 14 ## **Financial Statements** ## **Independent Financial Examiner’s Report** **----- Start of picture text -----**
2022-2023 2021-2022
UnrestrictedUnrestricted Restricted
Total Total
FundsFunds Funds
Income
Donations &
47,377 0 47,377 51,038
Fundraising
Grants Received 750 164,550 165,300 87,500
Training & Other
3,200 3,200 318
Income
Total Income 51,327 164,550 215,877 138,856
Expenditure
Cost of Raising
16,703 16,703 8,800
Funds
Charitable
(171) 171,732 171,561 105,355
Activities
Governance
3,756 3,756 705
Costs
Total
(171) 192,191 192,020 114,860
Expenditure
Surplus
(Deficit) of
51,498 (27,641) 23,857 23,996
Income Over
Expenditure
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_**Independent Financial Examiner’s Report**_ 15 ## **Financial Statements** **Independent Financial Examiner’s Report** **----- Start of picture text -----**
2022-2023 2021-2022
Unrestricted Restricted
Total Total
Funds Funds
Reconciliation of Funds
Brought
115,969 32,843 148,812 124,816
Forward
Surplus
(Deficit) For 51,498 (27,641) 23,857 23,996
Year
Carried
167,467 5,203 172,669 148,812
Forward
Current Assets
Bank
167,527 6,075 173,602 148,950
Balances
Debtors 318
Creditors:
Amounts
Falling Due 60 893 933 464
Within One
Year
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_**Independent Financial Examiner’s Report**_ 16 ## **Financial Statements** ## **Independent Financial Examiner’s Report** **----- Start of picture text -----**
2022-2023 2021-2022
Unrestricted Restricted
Total Total
Funds Funds
Net Assets 115,969 32,843 172,669 148,812
Funds of the Charity
Unrestricted
167,467 167,467 115,969
Funds
Restricted
5,202 5,202 32,843
Funds
Total Funds 167,467 5,202 172,669 148,812
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_**Independent Financial Examiner’s Report**_ 17