## **Trustees' Annual Report for the period**
||Period start date|Period start date|||Period end date|Period end date||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||01|04|2020||31|03|2021|
|**From**||||**To**||||
## Section A Reference and administration details
**Charity name** Autism Support Crawley **Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any)** 1179383 C/O Richard Place Dobson **Charity's principal address** 1-7 Station Road Crawley West Sussex Postcode RH10 1HT
## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity**
|1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year**|**Name of person (or body) entitled**
**to appoint trustee(if any)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||Maria Cook|Chairperson|||
||Heather Eves|Secretary
Trustee without a
specific role|Until 21stOctober 2021
From 22ndOctober 2021||
||Janet Flanagan|PublicityOfficer|||
||Catherine Seiderer|Vice Chairperson
and safeguarding
officer|Until 30/05/2020
Trustee without a
specific role from
01/06/2020||
||David Padwick|Safeguarding Officer|Safeguarding Officer
from 01/01/2020||
||KirstyMiles|Officer|Until 31stMarch 2021||
||Charlotte Gover|Officer
Vice Chair|From 31/05/2020||
||Donna Balkaya|Officer|Until 31stAugust 2020||
||Jessica Brand|Officer|From 22ndOctober 2020||
||||||
|**Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)**|**Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)**|
|---|---|
|**Name**|**Dates acted if not for whole year**|
|||
## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**
March **2012**
**TAR**
1
|**Type of adviser**
**Name**
**Address**|**Type of adviser**
**Name**
**Address**|**Type of adviser**
**Name**
**Address**|
|---|---|---|
|**Groups Adviser**|Karl Parks|Crawley Community & Voluntary Service, The Orchard,
1-2 Gleneagles Court, Brighton Road, Crawley, RH10
6AD|
|**Richard Place Dobson**
**Accountants**|Darren Harding|1-7 Station Road, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 1HT|
|**Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)**|||
||||
## **Section B Structure, governance and management**
## **De ���������������������������������**
Constitution Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution) CIO (Charitable incorporated Organisation) How the charity is constituted (eg. trust, association, company) Elected at Annual General Meeting and up to two trustees can be Trustee selection methods co-opted during the year by the existing trustees. (eg. appointed by, elected by) All positions are advertised on our closed Facebook page and by email.
## **Additional governance issues (Optional information)**
You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant, about:
- policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
- the ���������� organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
- relationship with any related parties;
- t ������������������ tion of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.
**Policies**
- Reviewed 2021 � Financial Controls � Whistleblower � Safeguarding
- Existing policies � Social Media � Code of Conduct for Trustees � Conflict of Interest for Trustees � Environmental Policy � Confidentiality � Equality & Diversity � Health & Safety � Skills Audit � Induction for New Trustees
- Fundraising Policy
## **Induction of New Trustees**
New Trustees are asked to undertake safeguarding training or provide evidence if they have had this training from another organisation.
**Autism Support Crawley organisational structure**
������������������� isational structure is as follows...
Chair, Founder, Vice chair, Secretary, Librarian, Treasurer, Publicity Officer, Meetings secretary, Membership secretary, Safeguarding Officer, Officers.
## **Section C Objectives and activities**
March **2012**
**TAR**
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|**Summary of the objects of the**
**charity set out in its**
**governing document**
**Summary of the main**
**activities undertaken for the**
**public benefit in relation to**
**these objects (include within**
**this section the statutory**
**declaration that trustees have**
**had regard to the guidance**
**issued by the Charity**
**Commission on public**
**benefit)**|The objects of the CIO are for the public benefit to promote and protect
the good health and relieve the needs of people and their families/carers
affected by Autistic Spectrum Condition or social communication and
interaction difficulties (with or without a diagnosis) living within the
counties of Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Brighton and Hove by the provision
of support, information and activities and such other means as the
trustees deem fit.|
|---|---|
||Autism Support Crawley has in the past improved awareness and
understanding of Autism by providing talks by its Trustees to front line
organisations, including Doctors�Surgeries, Tilgate Nature Centre and
staff and managers from the local Job Centre Plus Cluster. However, no
face to face talks have taken place since March 2020.
We also have close links with the Disability Engagement Officer for
Crawley Police. Dave Padwick has attended meetings run by Sussex
Police and given advice about Autism to them. We are part of the
Crawley Pathfinder Local Planning Group, a forum dedicated to
improving mental health in the area.
Our chair, Maria Cook, has been attending meetings for the Crawley
Disability Forum, Gatwick Access Forum and the Crawley Community
Ambassador Forum.
No talks took place in the year 2020/2021, but we have provided talks by
Zoom later in 2021.
Our work with Doctors�Surgeries continues since receiving our
HealthWatch #ItStartsWithYou national award in 2017, but again these
are waiting for us to be able to provide face to face talks. However, as a
charity we have been in contact with the NHS enabling our members to
access priority carer and quiet vaccination sessions through networking
with professionals and publicising these on our closed Facebook page.
We continue to provide a free�Welcome Pack�. This is a short
booklet full of information about our group, Autism and other useful,
reputable charitable organisations we recommend. These are distributed
widely, and we currently give away around 500 a year. We also give out
supportive bookmarks covering various topics, such as transition
between primary and secondary education. In March 2020 we had a
large number of books, but with the ceasing of face to face opportunities
directly, we posted these to organisations and services who would be
able to distribute them to relevant families.
Autism Support Crawley continues to fulfil its public benefit
statement by having a presence at events where member of the public
can find out about our charity, such as WSPCF Coffee and Networking
mornings. We have continued to do this where there is an opportunity via
Zoom. (For example, the WSPCF virtual pop-up, a replacement for their
Coffee and Cake Networking event).
A smaller proportion of the budget is not only used for workshops
given by professionals for the parents and carers, but also for family
inclusive events and parties together with the annual members meal, all
of which are in additional to the monthly coffee mornings and evening
meetings. These events have not been possible in the year 2020/2021,
but we did offer members a virtual meal out by way of takeaway vouchers
and a virtual pamper evening.
We continued with meetings up until the middle of March, but
unfortunately since then we have not been able to meet in person.
Having paid for a Zoom Client subscription we have been able to provide
virtual coffee mornings with guest speakers.
We held our very first Webinar in February 2021 when we invited Jo Luck
to speak about her dual diagnosis of Autism and ADHD, this was
attended by over 100 people.
We have also been able to signpost our members to events provided by|
March **2012**
**TAR**
3
other organisations. Autism Support Crawley has a very informative web page autismsupportcrawley.co.uk where anyone can access information about Autism. This includes information about other local services and organisations as well as more general information about Autism and when and where to find our meetings. Joining information for Autism Support Crawley is on our web site.
Our closed Facebook page continues to be a source of peer to peer help, advice and celebration for our members. A pinned post at the top of the Facebook page states our guidelines for the page.
We continue to work closely with other organisations to improve Autism Awareness.. We continue to liaise regularly with Crawley Community Action, including being part of their social prescribing scheme. We also feature in Crawley Older Person � s Directory.
We hope to return to working with The National Trust (Nymans and Sheffield Park) to improve their Autism Friendly provision. Short weekly committee meetings were held at the beginning of the pandemic to keep in touch with each other and the changing situation. These are now held less regularly now that we are holding coffee mornings and other meetings.
## **Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)**
March **2012**
**TAR**
4
## **Contributions Made By Volunteers**
The charity has no employees; therefore, all the work is undertaken by the trustees and a few other volunteers. A huge contribution is made every day by members offering support and answering queries from other members on our closed Facebook page.
You **may choose** to include further statements, where relevant, about:
- policy on grantmaking;
- policy programme related investment;
- contribution made by volunteers.
Autism Support Crawley is very grateful for the time taken and advice given without charge by Crawley Community Action and Richard Place Dobson (accountants).
Autism Support Crawley has had no face to face meetings in the year 2020/2021, but we hope to resume meetings at the premises at the family centre (WSCC) in 2022 and are very grateful to these organisations for offering their premises in the past to us at no cost. We give Manor Green a donation when we use their premises, but they do not charge us directly for use of their premises.
March **2012**
**TAR**
5
Section D Achievements and performance
**Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year**
Autism Support Crawley began holding coffee mornings via Zoom this year. We send out emails with information about our events and also about other organisations. There is also an email list for professionals, this is so that we can send information out to those interested in our charity, but do not qualify to be members.
We have a popular Twitter page with 764 followers. Our Instagram has 256 followers and our public Facebook page has 1,247 followers.
There are 121 full members, the remainder are associate members. Full members are members who attend events in person or via Zoom. We have 167 associate members on the mailing list who do not attend events. All those on our closed Facebook page are automatically associate members, there is some cross over with some, but not all on the email lists also being on Facebook.
The closed Facebook page has continued to grow in numbers, and we are now have over 1,800, members as at January 2022. Of these, 1,124 were active in the week to 11[th] January 2022.
Our closed page is a lifeline for so many, a perfect social media platform to ask questions, share information and help with the isolation that is experienced by so many parent carers. We have strict guidelines in place to protect ourselves and the individuals that have posts approved on the page. We asked members for feedback and received the following quotes.
_Every day reading through posts I have been to evening from Autism Support Crawley meetings, coffee mornings members gives me inspiration, and as a family we have compassion and understanding. I attended parties @ The feel inspired from the love and Knight Pub. Everyone is so support of everyone's posts. helpful and understanding, it When people are having a difficult has helped our family time, I wish I could step into the through difficult times just post and give them a hug! having other people to talk to. The parties have been great for my son as ��������������� ����������������������������� parties and there is no judgement when ���������� to leave early as �������������� Thank you everyone for much for him. X every scrap of advice, for sharing the ups and downs and for just being there_
Some of our usual methods of receiving money were not available this year. However, we were still able to receive money from the Waitrose and Sainsbury token schemes. We had a successful application to the Arthur Clark Foundation and received £500. Therefore, although we had a significant drop in income, equally we did not spend as much as usual during the year and therefore our bank balance remains healthy.
March **2012**
**TAR**
6
## Section D Achievements and performance
Pre-pandemic we were resident supporters at London Gatwick Airports twice yearly Accessibility Days, usually held in April and November, regularly helping 40 plus families familiarise themselves with the Hidden Disability Programme by visiting check ins and security searches, meeting the police, border force and their dogs and the fire brigade as well as a ride on the assistance buggies, visit the Sensory Room, access an aircraft and talk to staff about how they can navigate the airport successfully when they go away. There have been no accessibility sessions this year, but our chair, Maria Cook, continues to liaise with staff at Gatwick Airport. There have been multiple staff changes during this time, but we are hopeful that the assistance for Hidden Disabilities will continue to improve.
The Hawth was due to host a Relaxed Panto in January 2021, but unfortunately, this had to be cancelled as we went into our third lockdown before it had taken place. The Relaxed Panto was held at The Hawth in January 2022.
## **Impact of Talks and Events**
The talks given by trustees have been very well received and the recipients have been able to put the information to good use following the talks.
We received the following feedback from our first virtual talk.
Just wanted to say a huge thank you for attending our meeting on Wednesday, I had some lovely feedback afterwards and you gave us some great techniques for questioning and working smarter with those who have been diagnosed autistic.
March **2012**
**TAR**
7
## **Section E Financial review**
Reserves Policy The ch ���������������������������� s running costs in the **Brief statement of the** bank account ( around £2,000). **��������������������������� s Details of any funds materially in deficit**
## **Further financial review details (Optional information)**
## **Financial Position**
- You **may choose** to include The charity holds a Lloyds bank account. Sources of income are
- additional information, where individuals, Waitrose green token schemes and from our Golf Day in
- relevant about: September 2019. We did not be hold a Golf Day in 2020 or 2021,
- � the chari ��������������� however the supermarket token schemes are still running, and we will be sources of funds (including receiving money from them. Although our income has been and will be any fundraising); severely depleted this year, we also have not had as many outgoings as
- � how expenditure has usual, therefore the charity remains financially healthy. Online banking has been invaluable in 2020/2021, helping us to make
- supported the key objectives payments in a virtual setting.
- of the charity; The charity has no assets.
- � investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.
**Section F Other optional information**
Autism Support Crawley continue to have a good relationship with Manor Green Primary and Manor Green College, the local schools for children with Special Needs. We have been able to use their buildings when we need more space for evening meetings, conferences or other events we hold, although this has not happened since the start of the pandemic.
COVID-19 has had a huge impact on our events this year. We have had no face to face events since March 2020. However, our closed Facebook page has remained active and our chairperson has regularly delivered a message to our members. The committee has met most weeks via Zoom and Skype, this has been more often than usual and has helped the trustees keep in touch with each other and respond quickly to any issues that arise.
## **Section G Declaration**
**The trustees declare that they have ap �����������������������������������**
**Signed on behalf of the charity ������ stees**
**Signature(s)** ~~Heather Eves~~ **Full name(s)** Maria Louise Cook **Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc)** Chairperson **Date** 28/01/2021
March **2012**
**TAR**
8
||**Autism Support Crawley**|**Autism Support Crawley**|**Autism Support Crawley**|**1179383**|**1179383**|**1179383**|**CC16a**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**For the period**
**from**|01/04/2020|**To**||30/03/2021|||
|||||||||
|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||||
|**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest**
**£**
**96**
**1,950**
**1,747**
**168**
**333**
**15**
**-**
**-**
**4,309**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**4,309**
**530**
**189**
**25**
**287**
**200**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1,231**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1,231**
**3,078**
**-**
**10,434**
**13,512**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**6,979**
**6,979**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**||**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**96**
**1,950**
**1,747**
**168**
**333**
**15**
**-**
**-**
**4,309**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**4,309**
**530**
**189**
**25**
**287**
**200**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1,231**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1,231**
**3,078**||**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|amazon|**96**|||||||
|gymgroup|**1,950**||||||**-**|
|donations|**1,747**||||||**6,542**|
|paypal|**168**||||||**-**|
|waitrose|**333**||||||**-**|
|crawleycommunityaction|**15**||||||**-**|
|fundraisingevents|**-**||||||**5,948**|
|Miscellaneous|**-**||||||**277**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|**4,309**||||||**12,767**|
|||||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**||||||||
||**-**|||||||
||**-**||||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**-**||||||**-**|
|**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**||||||||
||||||||**12,767**|
|||||||||
|other expenses|**530**||||||**3,413**|
|advertising, promo and welcome books|**189**||||||**1,585**|
|panto|**25**||||||**270**|
|insurance|**287**||||||**287**|
|gifts|**200**||||||**128**|
|transfer to restricted funds|**-**||||||**12,600**|
|speakers and conferences|**-**||||||**2,410**|
||**-**||||||**-**|
||**-**||||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**1,231**||||||**20,693**|
|||||||||
|**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**||||||||
||**-**|||||||
||**-**|||||||
|**_Sub total_ **|**-**||||||**-**|
|**_Total payments_**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**||||||||
||||||||**20,693**|
|||||||||
||**3,078**|**-**|**-**||
**3,078**||**- 7,926**|
||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**10,434**|**6,979**|**-**||**17,413**||**25,339**|
||**13,512**|**6,979**|**-**||**20,491**||**17,413**|
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
28/01/2022
1
## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**
|**Categories**
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**���������������**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B3 Investment assets**|**Details**
**Details**
bank account
petty cash
**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**13,441**
**71**
**-**
**13,512**
OK
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**6,979**
**-**
**-**
**6,979**
OK
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||OK|
|||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**When due**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**||
||||**-**||
||||**-**||
||||**-**||
||||**-**||
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
Signature
|Print Name
Maria Cook|Date of
approval|
|---|---|
|Maria Cook|28/01/2022|
|||
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
28/01/2022
2