## Worcestershire Churches Supporting Adoption and Fostering Also known as Home for Good Worcestershire Charitable Incorporated Organisation Number 1177902 ## Trustees Annual Report 2022 - 2023 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. 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 is 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. Trustees during the year were: Stuart Watkins (chair of trustees) Richard Procter Rose Parker Joy Pollock Sharon Price Lee Curtis ## 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 network of people, churches and local champions across Worcestershire to raise 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 2022 - 2023 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. Home for Good: Worcestershire is the operating name of Worcestershire Churches Supporting Adoption and Fostering Charity number: 1177902 - Governance priorities were to create and implement key policies regarding safeguarding, volunteer management, information management and financial processing ## Activities Even though the last COVID lockdown is now 2 years ago the societal impact continues to be felt. Much of the year’s focus was to re-establish and re-energise our Support Groups and recruit more volunteers. This agenda remains very much our primary focus. During the year HfGW undertook the following activities: - Focused on re-establishing links with volunteers, local churches, and carers. This included sending out regular newsletters, ‘drop in’ mornings, sending small ‘thank you’ gifts to carers, and ensuring that requests for help were met quickly. In addition, we were able to support a family in need with support towards the cost of respite childcare and with a food gift. - Held 4 Support Groups on 11/6/2022, 1/10/2022, 14/1/2023, and 18/3/2023. Each of these was attended by approximately 45 people (carers and children) - Held a ‘Reset’ Meeting with our volunteers on 12/11/2022 - Prepared and circulated 318 Christmas Stockings to Care Leavers in Worcestershire. This was enabled through Church giving and other local support. In addition, it was financed through £1131.37 of financial gifts given towards the project. - Continued to extend 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, Upton, Kidderminster, Bromsgrove, and Redditch - Have a support WhatsApp group - Had a stall at the Worcester Show on 13/8/2023 - Appointed a part-time Development Worker - The trustees approved a comprehensive suite of updated policies and procedures to ensure that the trust is compliant with all of its legal and ethical obligations ## Planning Ahead The trustees’ priorities for 2023-2024 will continue to be: - Grow the number of Support Groups and Summer Activities - Develop stronger links with churches across the county - Continue to fund raise for our core activities and development work ## Financial The trustees started the year recognising that there needed to be a drive to improve our financial position. This has been successful, and through a range of grants and donations, our total income for 2022 – 2023 was £6,364.59 and our Expenditure was £5,847.79. Unrestricted funds are held to provide for general running expenses, such as a part-time paid administrator (10 hours per month), annual insurance, DBS registration and checks. As at 12/11/2023 we had unrestricted funds of £1,089.23. Home for Good: Worcestershire is the operating name of Worcestershire Churches Supporting Adoption and Fostering Charity number: 1177902 ## Thanks HfGW could not operate without the immense personal commitment of trustees and volunteers who willingly give of their time and great skills. The trustees wish to place on record their recognition and thanks to all those who work with HfGW for the benefit of carers and their children in Worcestershire. Signed: STUART WATKINS Stuart Watkins Chair of Trustees RICHARD PROCTER Richard Procter: Trustee Date: 20[th ] January 2024 Home for Good: Worcestershire is the operating name of Worcestershire Churches Supporting Adoption and Fostering Charity number: 1177902 ## Worcestershire Churches Supporting Adoption and Fostering ## Charity Number 1177902 Operating as Home for Good: Worcestershire Income Statement For the Year Ended 31[st] March 2023 |Income*
Expenditure*
Surplus for the Year|2021/22
£
P
10526.
55
3797.
06
6729.
49|2022/23
£
P
6364.
59
5847.
79| |---|---|---| |||516.
80| * See Notes 1 and 2 Statement of Financial Affairs as at 31[st] March 2023 |||31-03-2022|31-03-2022|31-03-2023|31-03-2023| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |||£|p|£|P| |Current Assets|||||| |Balance as per Bank Statement||8785.|66|9302.|46| |Represented by|||||| |Accumulated General Fund||1732.|24|2451.|83| |Accumulated Restricted Funds||323.|93|6333.|83| |Surplus for the Year (General Funds)||719.|59|-368.|67| |Surplus for the Year (Restricted|Funds)|6009.|90|885.|47| |Audited by: Philip Moore ACMA|Signed: P MOORE|Date: 08/01/2024|||| |Chairman: Stuart Watkins|Signed: S A WATKINS|Date: 20/1/24|||| |Trustee: Richard Procter|Signed: R PROCTER|Date: 20/1/24|||| 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|||| |---|---|---|---| |(a) Gifts
Personal Donations
Church & Organisation Donations
(b) Gift Aid Reclaim
(c) Restricted Donations (Christmas Stockings Project)
(d) Restricted Donations (Development Worker)
(e) Bank Interest
TOTAL INCOME
.0 Expenditure
‘Home for Good’ book purchases
Administrative Services bought in
Bank Charges
Insurance
Support Group (Worcester)
Craft
76.79
Food
113.89
Venues and Entertainment
Administration
Other support group expenses
153.93
Individual Support to Beneficiaries
Gifts to Carers & Social Workers
Publicity
Storage
Champions’ Events
Safeguarding
Thirtyone:Eight Membership Fee
129.00
DBS Processing
24.50
Stockings Project (from restricted donations)
Purchases
Administration
TOTAL EXPENDITURE|2021/22
£
p
835.
00
2401.
53
3236.
53
148.
75
2141.
27
5000.
00
10526.
55
2021/22
£
p
857.
35
780.
00
96.
00
232.
95
398.30
217.44
1099.75
510.00
344.
61
201.
28
145.00
153.
50
1131.
37
1217.95
341.01
3797.
06||2022/23
£
P
1370.
00
4048.
39
5418.
39
255.
00
677.
80
13.
40| ||||6364.
59
2022/23
£
P
1208.
17
72.
00
239.
30
2225.
49
89.
08
156.
00
15.
89
137.
90
145.
00
1558.
96
5847.
79| 2.0 Expenditure Home for Good: Worcestershire is the operating name of Worcestershire Churches Supporting Adoption and Fostering Charity number: 1177902 ## Note 3 Two transactions, of £90.00 each to Mrs J Barron for administrative services, were unreconciled in the bank account that were yet to clear at the year end. ## Note 4 Whereas then trustees commit to pay 25% of unrestricted gifts to the national charity, Home for Good, none were made in this financial year. The trustees have designated a sum of £454.60 for this purpose, which includes an outstanding balance at the start of the year, of £14.38. ## Note 5 For the fourth year, 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 £1,333.83. Further restricted gifts were received, and corresponding expenditure incurred, resulting in a closing surplus of £452.67. This value is carried forward as restricted funds to use for the same project in the following year. For the second year, the trustees carried forward designated a sum of £459 from general funds from the previous year for this project, which remains unused. A decision has been made and implemented during the year 2023/24 to take this back into undesignated funds. ## Note 6 The trustees were seeking to appoint a Development Worker to extend the work of the charity more widely across Worcestershire. A donation of £5,000 was received towards this during the previous year, 2021/22. However, the charity has not succeeded in raising further funds, sufficient to recruit for this role. The donor has agreed for us to hold the funds and continue to seek to implement the project. We have now appointed a part-time Development Worker and with the charity’s permission we are using the donation to fund this post. The funds plus the addition of one gift of £50 remains in the restricted fund. ## Note 7 A new restricted fund was established from donations for the purpose of providing support groups to parents and carers of families with fostered or adopted children. £3,818.39 was received and £1,981.76 expended within the terms of the fund restrictions. A balance of £1,836.63 is carried forward to future use. Payments totalling £161.00 were made to Trustees for reimbursement of expenses incurred: |||£|P| |---|---|---|---| |Richard Procter||125.|00| |Joy Pollock||36.|00| |TOTAL REIMBURSEMENTS TO TRUSTEES||161.|00| |Audited by: Philip Moore ACMA|Signed: P MOORE|Date: 08/01/2024|| |Chairman: Stuart Watkins|Signed: S A WATKINS|Date: 20/1/24|| |Trustee: Richard Procter|Signed: R PROCTER|Date: 20/1/24|| Home for Good: Worcestershire is the operating name of Worcestershire Churches Supporting Adoption and Fostering Charity number: 1177902