## Worcestershire Churches Supporting Adoption and Fostering ## Also known as Home for Good Worcestershire Charitable Incorporated Organisation Number 1177902 ## Trustees Annual Report 2020 - 2021 Worcestershire Churches Supporting Adoption and Fostering, which operates as Home for Good Worcestershire (abbreviated in this report to HfGW) was established on 11[th] April 2018 and is registered at Lindisfarne House, 4 Barbourne Terrace, Worcester, WR1 3JS. Trustees during the year were: Stuart Watkins (chair of trustees) Richard Procter Fiona Taylor Rose Parker Joy Pollock (joined March 2021) HfGW is a small Worcestershire based charity. It is affiliated to the national Home for Good Charity. All the trustees are local people, having a broad range of relevant professional knowledge and expertise. Care was taken to ensure that the board of trustees has a breadth of skills to meet HfGW’s responsibilities as a charity and to provide guidance, advice and support to volunteers and those who are supported by HfGW. ## Objectives HfGW is a charity that seeks to ensure that every child in care can thrive in a safe and loving foster or adoptive family that is right for them. HfGW’s vision and belief is that the Church in Worcestershire can, and should, be part of the solution. HfGW works to put vulnerable children on the Church’s agenda, inspire Christians to step up to foster or adopt, and equip churches and local groups to offer much-needed support to families who are fostering or have adopted. HfGW seeks to do this by coordinating and resourcing a growing network of people, churches and local champions across Worcestershire who are raising awareness of the needs of vulnerable children and young people, inspiring individuals to explore fostering and adoption and equipping churches to understand and support them. The Board’s own objectives for the year 2020 - 2021 were to ensure continuation and growth of the activities already undertaken by volunteers and to establish the necessary governance requirements as a charity. HfGW’s operational priorities are: - Extending the number of churches and individuals reached to encourage them to engage with fostering and adoption across the whole of Worcestershire - Strengthening the existing family support group and exploring the possibilities of starting new groups outside Worcester city. - Maintaining the availability of practical support for carer and adoptive families - Maintaining strong relationships with the local children’s services and voluntary organisations. - Governance priorities were to create and implement key policies regarding safeguarding, volunteer management, information management and financial processing ## Activities Inevitably much of what was planned for 2020 - 2021 was adversely affected by the Coronavirus Pandemic and the three national lockdowns. For most of this year face to face Support Groups and Activity Days had to be cancelled though some of these continued as online Zoom events. Support for individual families continued wherever possible. The trustees continued to meet via Zoom meetings. HfGW continues to extend their links with local churches and champions. We have good links with the Baptist Union, the Diocese of Worcester, the Methodist Church and a number of Free Churches. We have established links with champions in Malvern, Kidderminster and Redditch. In December 2020 Joy Pollock, the Lead for HfGW completed her three year term and stepped down. Joy intended to remain active within HfGW and became a Trustee in March 2021. As in previous years HfGW provided Christmas Stockings for all of Worcestershire’s Care Leavers. This was funded separately by grants from local schools and charities. In all 2,400 items were collected and Christmas Stockings given to every care leaver in Worcestershire. Feedback from the young people and those working with them was very positive. Two examples will suffice: - _“I still kept my stocking from last year as they are so lovely. Shall look forward to opening xmas day.”_ - _“I don’t have anything else to open Christmas day so shall save this till then.”_ Throughout the year the trust has continued to update and adopt a number of policies and procedures to ensure that the trust is compliant with all of its legal and ethical obligations ## Planning Ahead While the National Lockdowns did mean that much of HfGW’s development agenda had to be paused this did however give the trustees an opportunity to consider how the charity could resume and expand their offer once the restrictions were eased. The Trustees recognised that there were a number of priorities for the forthcoming year that needed to be planned for: - With the easing of these restrictions consideration needed to be given to safely returning to normal activities - As HfGW has plans to extend our reach and help we offer more consistently across Worcestershire we recognised that we may need to employ a worker to lead on this. This would require new sources of funding - With the planned resignation of the HfGW Lead in December 2020 there was a need to create a new leadership role or roles Despite the lockdowns we have made good progress with these priorities: - Established a Development Group to lead on this planning. This met virtually on a number of occasions, and held a Development Day in the summer during one of the intervals between lockdowns - Began to create a Development Worker role. We have had a number of productive meetings with the national Home for Good Charity, the local authority Fostering Service (Worcestershire Children First) and the Regional Adoption Agency covering Worcestershire (Adoption Central England). These discussions are progressing well and there are strong indications that we will receive funding or help in kind from these agencies to enable us to employ a part-time Development Worker for up to 3 years. In addition we made successful funding applications to a number of local and national charities ## Financial HfGW’s income for the year was £1754.98, coming from a number of small donations and gifts. This was less than the previous year due in large part to the impact of the Covid Restrictions. Expenses were £2713.91, resulting in a deficit of £958.93 which was covered by HfGW’s Accumulated Fund of £2869.93. After all expenses this left HfGW with Current Assets of £2056.17 (a net reduction for the Year of -£1137.69). There was also a small Surplus of Restricted Funds of £145.17 (in part a leftover balance from the Christmas Stockings which will be used for a similar activity in 2021 - 2022). The net reduction is largely a result of limited opportunities to fund raise and the cost of a part-time Personal Assistant who supports the work of HfGW. Jo Barron was appointed in November 2019; she is not an employee of HfGW. Though HfGW’s financial reserves were less than the previous year, charitable donations from local schools, churches and individuals means that HfGW’s financial base is more secure for the subsequent year. ## Thanks The trust could not operate without the immense personal commitment of trustees, Jo and our volunteers who willingly give of their time and great skills. The trustees wish to place on record their recognition and thanks for all that is done on behalf of those who benefit from Home for Good Worcestershire. Signed: Stuart Watkins Chair of Trustees Richard Procter: Trustee Date: 6[th] January 2022 ## Worcestershire Churches Supporting Adoption and Fostering Charity Number 1177902 Operating as Home for Good: Worcestershire Income Statement For the Year Ended 31[st] March 2021 ||2019/20||2020/21|2020/21| |---|---|---|---|---| ||£|P|£|P| |Income*|2715.|74|1754.|98| |Expenditure*|3709.|11|2713.|91| |Surplus for the Year|(993.|37)|(958.|93)| * See Notes 1 and 2 ## Worcestershire Churches Supporting Adoption and Fostering Charity Number 1177902 Operating as Home for Good: Worcestershire Statement of Financial Affairs as at 31[st] March 2020 |||31-03-2020|31-03-2020|31-03-2021|31-03-2021| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |||£|p|£|P| |Current Assets|||||| |Balance as per Bank Statement||3015.|10|2056.|17| |Represented by|||||| |Accumulated General Fund||4008.|47|2869.|93| |Accumulated Restricted Funds||||145.|17| |Surplus for the Year (General Funds)||(1138.|54)|(1137.|69)| |Surplus for the Year (Restricted|Funds)|145.|17|178.|76| |Audited by: Philip Moore ACMA|Signed: Philip Moore||Date:|07 / 09|/21| |Chairman: Stuart Watkins|Signed: S Watkins||Date:|28 / 09|21| |Trustee: Richard Procter|Signed: RT Procter||Date:|28 / 09|/21| Home for Good: Worcestershire is the operating name of Worcestershire Churches Supporting Adoption and Fostering Charity number: 1177902 ## Worcestershire Churches Supporting Adoption and Fostering ## Operating as Home for Good: Worcestershire ## Note 1 These accounts have been drawn up on a receipts and payments basis. They are based on the bank statements and information supplied by the treasurer. ## Note 2 ## 1.0 Income |ote 2
.0 Income|ote 2
.0 Income||| |---|---|---|---| |2019/20
(a) Gifts
£
p
Personal Donations
392.
43
Church & Organisation Donations
731.
94
Other Donations
1124.
37
(b) Gift Aid Reclaim
1301.
37
(c) Book Sales (Home for Good by Krish & Miriam Kandiah)
15
00
(d) Glimmer Candle Donation
(d) Restricted Donations (Christmas Stockings Project)
275.
00
TOTAL INCOME
2715.
74
.0 Expenditure
2019/20
£
p
‘Home for Good’ Book Purchases
140.
00
Donations to Home for Good (UK)
549.
09
Travel Expenses
Administrative Services bought in
592.
50
Bank Charges
60.
00
Insurance
258.
92
Support Group (Worcester)
Craft
340.47
Food
498.96
Gift re Premises
55.80
Other support group expenses
895.
23
19.79
Individual Support to Beneficiaries
Gifts to Carers & Social Workers
265.
10
Publicity
51.
00
Information & Carer Recruitment Evenings
41.
00
Governance (Policy templates)
48.
00
Safeguarding
Thirtyone:Eight Membership Fee
120.00
129.00
DBS Processing
73.50
193.
50
Stockings Project (from restricted donations)
614.
77
Other Expenses
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
3709.
11|||2020/21
£
P
422.
00| ||||422.
00
20.
00
1312.
98| ||||1754.
98
2020/21
£
P
885.
00
69.
00
260.
90
19.
79| ||129.00||498.
00
119.
60
80.
40
129.
00| ||||652.
22| ||||2713.
91| ## 2.0 Expenditure Home for Good: Worcestershire is the operating name of Worcestershire Churches Supporting Adoption and Fostering Charity number: 1177902 ## Note 3 There are unreconciled items in the bank account that are yet to clear for expenses of £119.60. ## Note 4 The trustees have designated an amount of £231.00 to be paid from General Funds to the national charity, Home for Good, in recognition of administrative, communications and branding support. This represents 25% of unrestricted gifts received during the year. ## Note 5 A special project to donate Christmas stockings to care leavers was carried out during this year. A restricted fund for this purpose was carried forward from the previous financial year, of £145.17. Further restricted gifts were received, and corresponding expenditure incurred, resulting in a surplus of £178.76. Therefore, this restricted fund carried forward a balance of £323.94. This value has been held as restricted funds to use for the same project in the following year. The trustees have further designated a sum of £459 for this project from general funds. ## Note 6 No payments made to Trustees for expenses incurred, but a total of £119.60 was paid as reimbursement of expenses to Mrs Robbyn Procter, who is married to a trustee, Mr Richard Procter: |Connected person – Robbyn Procter
TOTAL REIMBURSEMENTS TO TRUSTEES|£
P
119.
60| |---|---| ||119.
60| Home for Good: Worcestershire is the operating name of Worcestershire Churches Supporting Adoption and Fostering Charity number: 1177902