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2025-03-31-accounts

Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date Period end date Day1 Month4 Year2024 Day31 Month3 Year2025 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 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
Lee Cook Trustee Co-opted 18thOctober
2024 / Voted on at
AGM 24 January2025
Simon King Trustee Safeguarding Co-opted 18thOctober
2024 / Voted on at
AGM 24 January2025
Carol Jackson Trustee Secretariat Voted on at AGM 24
January2025
Jane Wilson Agreed to continue as
Interim Treasurer		 Voted on at AGM 24
January2025
Georgina James Trustee Stepped down 24
January2025
Janet Flanagan Vice Chair Resigned with
immediate effect 15
October 2024
Vee McMath Trustee Resigned with
immediate effect 23
August 2024
Dorota Soronna Trustee Resigned with
immediate effect 15
October 2024
Jessica Grant Trustee Resigned with
immediate effect 17
October 2024
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)

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Type of adviser
Name
Address		 Type of adviser
Name
Address		 Type of adviser
Name
Address
Charitable/Community
Groups Adviser		 Crawley
Community Action		 The Orchard, 1-2 Gleneagles Court, Brighton Road, Crawley,
RH10 6AD
Accountants Richard Place
Dobson		 1-7 Station Road, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 1HT
Autism Specialist, Autism
rights, School procedures.		 David Burns MBE No business premises
Autism
Consultant/Specialist		 Nicole Goodman No business premises
Community Development
Officers		 Crawley Borough
Council		 Town Hall, The Boulevard, Crawley, West Sussex,RH10
1UZ
Psychotherapist Tara Cresswell No Business Premises
Senior Children’s Dietitian Joanna Mankelow First Community Health & Care, Caterham Dene Hospital,
Church Road, Caterham , Surrey, CR3 5RA
Human Resources Adastra HR Unit 10, Newhouse Business Centre, Horsham West Sussex
RH12 4RU
Human Resources Loch Associates Oxford House, 15-17 Mount Ephraim Road, Tunbridge Wells,
Kent, TN1 1EN
CaPS Ltd (GDPR) Freedom Works Spectrum House, Beehive Ring Road, Crawley, West
Sussex, RH6 0LG

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Constitution

Type of governing document (e.g. trust deed, constitution) CIO (Charitable incorporated Organisation) How the charity is constituted

(e.g. trust, association, company)

Elected at Annual General Meeting and up to two trustees can be coTrustee selection methods opted during the year by the existing trustees. All positions are advertised (e.g. appointed by, elected by) on our closed and public social media and via email to our stakeholders.

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

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You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

Policies

New Policies for 24/25

Autism Support Crawley organisational structure : Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, Safeguarding Trustee, Officers

Induction of New Trustees

New Trustees receive necessary training depending on their individual responsibilities. They are required to undertake safeguarding training or provide evidence if they have had this training from another organisation.

Section C Objectives and activities

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, education, information and activities and such other means as
the trustees deem fit.
Autism Support Crawley is a parent/carer peer support charity for
parents, grandparents and other family members over the age of 18, who
help support someone with an Autistic/Neurodivergent mind, or other
social communication differences and co-conditions. Our current_full_
membership stands at 290. By full membership we mean any carer who
has registered with us and befitted financially from our services. Our
primary online support platform is our closed Facebook page, which is an
invaluable source of carer peer support, where members can receive
support, ask questions, share information and make friends in a relaxed,
understanding, supportive and confidential environment. We also add
events, courses and services run by our charity and other associated
charities/organisations to the group page. We have over 2.7k members
on our closed charity page. We also send via email all previously
mentioned resources and opportunities organised by our charity and
those we recognise to our members who do not have access to our
closed Facebook forum, or who do not want to miss the information
added to our page. We also have a professionals email list where we
circulate events and services run by our charity that may be of interest to
them or to share to their clients/stakeholders. There is a strict criteria and
vetting process for our closed Facebook page to ensure confidentiality

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and to maintain a safe space. Those not meeting our criteria for the closed forum are signposted to follow our public social media accounts on X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Threads, BlueSky and TikTok. Anyone, unless blocked, can follow these public pages. We have strict guidelines in place to protect ourselves and the individuals that have posts approved on the closed Facebook page.

We host regular term time monthly meetings for our carer membership. These are in the form of coffee mornings, often with relevant speakers invited and evening in person and online meetings. We have kept our online carer peer support meetings running as we recognise that many carers are not able to access face to face gatherings due to their caring roles, location, transport difficulties and/or lack of respite options. We host these evening online get togethers via Teams. We have continued to run bi monthly male carer in person evening meetings, which have proved to be very popular and needed. All of our regular face to face carer peer support meetings are held at The Coaching Halt in Crawley, with whom we also collaborate to organise and host family events at Christmas, Easter and in the Summer Holidays.

Thanks to the joint funding from NHS Sussex and WSCC, we have continued to host a programme of educational workshops for carers with a varied subject matter, all pertinent to the needs of our members’ caring roles and to give them a better understanding of Autism. These take place term time and each topic is delivered in person and online (via Zoom.) We are very lucky to still be able the Training Room at Tesco, Hazelwick FOC. They are very supportive of our work. We use accredited Autism Management, Psychotherapist and Dietitian professionals to deliver such sessions. We have also continued to host small support group surgeries with a very limited number of stakeholders, gaining access to time with these professionals in a supportive, confidential environment. We are grateful to Manor Green College for giving us the safe space to do this. Quite often we have then highlighted particularly vulnerable carers who have accessed any of these mentioned sessions and offer them a short course of 1:1s over the phone with an Autism Management specialist. These have been so incredibly well received and life changing.

In the August of 2024 we returned to Kilmarnock Horse Rescue, to host our annual members’ family picnic which is always such a popular and well received opportunity to relax, have fun, participate in games, engage with animals without fear of judgement, in a supportive, inclusive environment. In the September of 2024 we were given the opportunity by Nyman’s National Trust to have exclusive FREE access to their Summer of Play family activity set up in Combers Field. Another opportunity to relax, play games and chat with like-minded parent/carers in a non judgemental safe space, without fear of being asked to leave, due to lack of understanding, societal judgement and prejudice. These events make such a difference to families and those they care for.

Autism Support Crawley improves awareness, acceptance and understanding of Autism and Neurodiversity by delivering information sessions by its Trustees to front line organisations. This started by us working with doctors surgeries for which we won the HealthWatch #ItStartsWithYou national award in 2017 and also included, but not exclusive to delivering talks at Tilgate Nature Centre, response teams at Crawley Police Station, Horsham JCP, Crawley UTC, Nymans and Sheffield Park NTs and the local branch of the NTC. The pandemic brought with it an enforced sabbatical, but we have now resumed these

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informal talks having delivered a refresher talk at a doctors surgery and more enquiries coming in.

Our Chairperson, (or our Secretary or Administrative Assistant if unavailable,) represents our charity at meetings with Crawley Ambassadors Forum, Crawley Disability Forum and Sussex Police. She has advised Sussex Police on autism acceptance and inclusion at their online forum. We are part of the Crawley Pathfinder Local Planning Group, a forum dedicated to improving mental health in the area. Autism Support Crawley continues to fulfil its public benefit statement and raise acceptance and awareness of Autism, by having a presence at events where members of the public can find out about our charity and autism. These include Crawley Borough Council public celebration events in the town centre. We have attended disability specific events throughout the year with our information stand to provide parent/carers and other family members with information about how our charity can support them and their families.

We hold an annual public Autism specific guest speaker event at Manor Green College, Crawley, which is open to anyone who has an interest in Autism, be it in a professional or personal capacity. We now host these hybrid, offering an online option via Teams, as we recognise that many people are not able to access face to face gatherings due to their caring roles, location, transport difficulties and/or lack of respite options. Being hybrid also enables us to reach out to people further afield geographically as well.

We continue to work closely with other organisations to improve Autism Acceptance. We continue to liaise regularly with Crawley Community Action, including being part of their social prescribing scheme and attending their networking events and workshops. We also feature in the West Sussex Local Offer, Crawley Older Persons Directory.and CCA’s Volunteer Directory

We continue to work with a local theatre to support them with their relaxed performances and also produce a guide to help people attending these supportive productions. We also provide free carer tickets so families have the opportunity to access the theatre where they may not be able to otherwise due to the cost.

We hold quarterly Board meetings via Teams.

We are very proud to learn how well received the Changing Place facilities have been at The Hawth Theatre, Crawley and K2 Leisure Centre, Crawley, having donated to the cost of some equipment for both installations. These gestures have meant improved access to and inclusion in the local community for disabled users who need this level of personal care.

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

The charity has 2 (two) part time employees, a Secretary and an Administration Assistant, to assist the Trustees, committee members and volunteers.

A huge contribution is made every day by members offering support and answering queries from other members on our closed charity Facebook page.

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Autism Support Crawley is very grateful for the time taken and advice given without charge by Crawley Community Action and Richard Place Dobson. We would like to thank the following organisations for their support with awarding our charity with much needed grants. Toby Silverman, SEND Health Commissioner , for arranging joint funding from NHS Sussex and WSCC to give us the opportunity to deliver workshops and small group surgeries to carers. Sussex Community Fund for funding to reach out to members of the minority groups in our locality to address health inequalities. We would also like to thank the following organisations and individuals for their support. The Coaching Halt, Crawley for letting us use their premises for our support meetings and family events, Kilmarnock Horse Rescue for letting us use one of their fields to host our members picnic. Manor Green College for the use of their premises for public speaker events and small support group surgeries. We choose to give them a donation for the use of their premises for our guest speaker event, but they do not charge us directly for this. Nicole Goodman for delivering exceptional workshops and 1:1s for carers. Tara Cresswell for delivering phenomenal small group surgeries alongside Nicole Goodman. Joanna Mankelow for delivering excellent workshops on complex eating/ARFID. Tesco Hazelwick for donating food and drinks for our events throughout the year. Richard Place Dobson for providing vital ad hoc charity and account advice. Crawley Community Action for regular consultation catch ups. Tesco Distribution Centre for donating food and drinks for our events throughout the year. The UK Garrison for their unmatched loyalty in helping entertain our families!! Nyman’s National Trust for giving us exclusive access to their Summer of Play field and supporting some carers in Carers Week to access the grounds and enjoy a cuppa and a piece of cake. Plus, a huge thank you to everyone else who has supported us with volunteering their time and donating to our funds. We are so grateful for the help and support we have received. ABM UK Crawley Branch for choosing us as their charity of the year locally.

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Creative Pod for our rebrand and new website.

Ifield Golf Club for having us as their charity of the year once again and for supporting our annual golf day so generously.

Section D Achievements and performance We continue to send out regular emails detailing opportunities organised Summary of the main by our charity and those we recognise to our stakeholders, which include, achievements of the charity but are not exclusive to events, training courses and services. There is during the year 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 following on our public social media accounts. Our membership continues to increase. We have over 2.7K members on our closed Facebook page and mailing list. We have 290 full members and the rest are associate members. Our closed Facebook page is a lifeline for so many, an invaluable source of carer peer support, where members can receive support, ask questions, share information and make friends in a relaxed, understanding, supportive and confidential environment, reducing isolation. We have 2,250 followers on our public Facebook page, 834 on X, 596 on Instagram, 111 on Threads, 335 on LinkedIn, 5 on BlueSky and 35 on TikTok We are so delighted by how well received our coffee mornings and peer support carer meetings are. We love hosting them as we can see for ourselves the difference they are making to carers’ emotional wellbeing. The same goes for the family events as so many families would be left utterly isolated as a result if we did not put these on. The feedback we have received from stakeholders participating in the workshops, small support group surgeries and 1:1s has been heartwarming to read and be proud of. These sessions really are making a difference to carers’ lives by giving them the tools to help support those they care for to the highest level. Our annual Golf Day fundraiser in September 2024 saw us break the £10k barrier for the very first time. An extremely proud moment. We are very grateful to have been Ifield Golf Club and ABM’s nominated charities of the year.

Section E Financial review Section E Financial review
Brief statement of the
charity’s policy on reserves
Details of any funds materially
in deficit
Further financial review details
Autism Support Crawley always ensures that a full year running costs for
the charity remains in the bank account.
(Optional information)

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You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

The key objective of our charity is to support our parent/carers and their families to help them feel connected and not alone. We organise events to help prevent feelings of isolation for our families and therefore they can feel relaxed in a non-judgemental and supportive environment.

Our funds have enabled us to achieve this and we have plans to expand our events and services to benefit our members by increasing our offer in different directions, but in keeping with our remit.

Section F Other optional information

We are currently in the process of redesigning our website www.autismsupportcrawley.co.uk The new website will be an invaluable resource for information, signposting and will be highlighting and celebrating our member events. To make the website accessible to our users, it will be disability and neurodiverse friendly and available in other languages.

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Mick Turpie Full name(s) Maria Cook Position (e.g. Secretary, Chair Vice Chair Chair, etc) Date 24/01/26

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Autism Support Crawley Autism Support Crawley Autism Support Crawley 117983
Receipts andpayments accounts
For the period
from		 01/04/2024
Period start date		 To 31/03/2025
Period end date

CC16a

For the period Period start date Period end date To from 01/04/2024 31/03/2025

Section A Receipts and payments

A1 Receipts Unrestricted
funds
to the nearest £
1,940
7,753
349
13,476
-
1,199
-
-

24,717
-
-
-
24,717
4,816
3,624
6,160
-
2,751
1,795
725
4,704
-
24,575
-
-
-
24,575
142
-
33,825
33,967		 Restricted
funds
to the nearest £
-
1,000
-
-
10,500
-
-
11,500
-
-
-
11,500
11,500
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
11,500
-
-
-
11,500
-
-
412
412		 Endowment
funds
to the nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Total funds
to the nearest £
1,940
8,753
349
13,476
10,500
1,199
-
-
36,217
-
-
-
36,217
15,316
4,624
6,160
-
2,751
1,795
725
4,704
36,075
-
-
-
36,075
142		 Total funds
to the nearest £
1,940
8,753
349
13,476
10,500
1,199
-
-
36,217
-
-
-
36,217
15,316
4,624
6,160
-
2,751
1,795
725
4,704
36,075
-
-
-
36,075
142		 Last year
to the nearest £
Co-op 1,940 1,259
Donations 7,753 5,312
Gazebo 349 -
Golf Day 13,476 8,562
Grants - 10,000
Other Revenue 1,199 7,500
PettyCash - 71
West Dussex - 20,000
Sub total(Gross income for
AR)
24,717		 52,704
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
-
- -
~~Sub total~~ - -
Total receipts
A3 Payments
52,704
Staff 4,816 9,519
Office Supplies and equipment 3,624 4,723
Creativepod 6,160 4,518
advertising/promo - 1,089
golf day 2,751 2,300
groupevents 1,795 2,001
members meal 725 1,798
misc costs 4,704 1,109
speaker - 6,549
**Sub total ** 24,575 33,606
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
33,606
142 - - 142 19,098
- - - -
33,825 412 - 34,237 15,139
33,967 412 - 34,379 34,237

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

20/01/2026

1

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
Categories
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
B1 Cash funds
B2 Other monetary assets
B4 Assets retained for the
charity’s own use
B5 Liabilities
B3 Investment assets		 Signature
Details
Details
Details
Details
Total cash funds
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
Details		 Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
to nearest £
to nearest £
33,967
412
-
-
-
-
33,967
412
OK
OK
Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
to nearest £
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Fund to which
asset belongs
Cost (optional)
-
-
-
-
-
Fund to which
asset belongs
Cost (optional)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Fund to which
liability relates
Amount due
(optional)
-
-
-
-
-
Print Name
Maria Cook		 Endowment
funds
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
OK
Endowment
funds
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-
Current value
(optional)
-
-
-
-
-
Current value
(optional)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
When due
(optional)
Date of
approval
Maria Cook 20/01/2026

CCXX R2 accounts (SS)

20/01/2026

2

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND ANO WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner s Report R•port to the trustsegl members of Autism Support Crawley On accounts for tho year onded 31 March 2025 Charity no Ilf any) 1179383 Sot out on p•ges I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (llhe Trust.) for the year ended 3110312025. Respon$ibilltles and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation ba818 of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Ad 2011 (Ihe Acr). I report in r8spect of my examination of the Trust's accounts Carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission urKler section 145(5)(b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confinn that no material matters have come to my attention (other than that disclosed below'> in connedion with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in. any material respect.. accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of theAdtX the accounts do not a¢¢ord with the accounting records Independent examinerfs statsm•nt I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. . FY8ase delete the words in the brackets rfthey do not apply. Signed: Data: Name: Darren Harding Relevant professlonal qualificationl8) or body (If anyl.. ACA FCCA DChA Address: Richard Place Dobson. 1-7 Station Road, Crawley. West Sussex, RH10 1 HT IER October 2018