Trustees’ Annual Report
1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021
1. Foreword by the Chair of Trustees
This has been a very difficult year for the Cedar Community Club as the Club was forced to close on 18 March 2020 in response to the increasing severity of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the Government restrictions on social distancing, the trustees felt that they had no option other than to temporarily shut the Club. The closure was initially planned to last until June 2020, but in reality we were unable to re-open until October 2021.
This Report details the Club’s efforts to continue to support our elderly and vulnerable members during the national lockdowns, while at the same time maintaining and shepherding our financial resources so that we would be in the best-possible financial position when we re-opened.
2. Background
The Club was established in December 2018 to provide day-care facilities for the elderly and vulnerable in south Oxfordshire. Although based in Hinton Waldrist, members come from a 10-mile radius as we are the only day-care facility available between Witney and Wantage, and between Cumnor and Faringdon. We provide care, entertainment and support for the elderly, and we cater for those with mild-to-moderate dementia, as well as those living with other physical and mental health issues. We provide a warm, friendly and supportive environment. We are open every Tuesday and Wednesday, for 50 weeks of the year, 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and our only membership requirement is that we can adequately cope with an individual’s specific needs. Nobody is excluded on the grounds of ethnicity or religion. In March 2020 we had 20 registered members (see below for more details), and the average age then was around 84 years, with over half of our members living by themselves.
As well as providing care and support for our members, we also support their carers and family, and we see one of our major roles as providing muchneeded regular, safe and reliable respite care. For many elderly carers, Club time is the only regular respite package that they can easily and affordably access. We also act as an informal information hub and signposting service to other relevant services, and our staff regularly signpost members and their families to other available help from Social Services and NHS resources, as well as often helping with making the necessary appointments.
As well as employing three paid staff (a Manager, a Deputy Manager and a Cook), the Club also relies on local volunteers to help with each session, and
this allows our members to receive one-to-one support with arts and craft projects and encourages companionable conversations. In March 2020 we had 10 volunteers (average age c. 73 years, all retired), and they all commented on how enjoyable they found the work and how much it engendered a ‘sense of worth and social engagement’.
All of our staff, trustees and volunteers have been DBS-checked, and all have attended a Safeguarding course. They have all read and signed the Club Safeguarding policy and know the procedure to follow if any possible Safeguarding issues come to light.
3. Governance
The Club is a not-for-profit Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), and there is a board of trustees who meet at least 4 times a year to discuss all points of policy. At present there are 7 trustees, and they have all read the government guidelines on the legal responsibilities of a trustee.
The Club is a self-funded organisation, and it relies on a combination of members’ fees (currently set at £20 per day), government grants and private donations for its income.
All trustee meetings are fully minuted, and all meetings start with a Conflict of interest declaration.
We have recently been looking to increase the number of trustees, and we have advertised in local publications with some success. Eligibility for trusteeship is open to all as stated in Point 9(2) of our Constitution.
4. Financial position
This year (April 2020 to March 2021) has been very difficult financially for the Club. The Club has been closed for the entire financial period and so has received no fees from members. In past years these have made up roughly half of our income. However, despite receiving no incoming fees, the Club faced continuing running costs, such as staffing costs, insurance, phone and internet charges, pension contributions, etc.
The Trustees took the decision in March 2020 to continue to support our Club members even though the Club was officially shut. The Government COVID restrictions from 23 March 2020 meant that the elderly and vulnerable were instructed to isolate in their homes. However, we felt that, given the mental and physical vulnerability of many of our members, that it was necessary to continue to offer support where possible to our members and their carers.
We furloughed our 3 paid staff from March 2020, taking up the government’s offer to pay 80% of staff wages. The trustees voted to make up the shortfall in wages (20%) so that our staff would continue to be paid in full --- we felt that
this was necessary to ensure that we had a full team of staff available when we could re-open. However, by September 2020 it was becoming obvious that we would not be re-opening any time soon, and we took the difficult decision to make one member of staff (our cook) redundant. It had also become clear that changing government rules over what type of work furloughed staff could undertake, even charitable work, meant that we had to rethink how we paid our staff.
In October 2020 the trustees voted to officially change the nature of work undertaken by our staff so that they would be working 50% of their ‘normal’ work time doing ‘out-reach’ work: visiting members in their homes, phoning all members once a week, producing activity packs to be distributed to members, etc. The staff remained on furlough for the other 50% of their time. We developed our ‘Happy Hampers’ project (see below: High spots), and our staff were very involved in preparing and delivering these hampers each month to members’ homes. This pattern of our staff working 50% paid ‘out-reach’ work together with 50% furlough pay continued for the rest of the financial year.
This decision to continue to pay our staff despite the Club receiving no members’ fees for this accounting period meant that the Club ran at a significant financial loss---- as shown in the attached financial accounts. However, the trustees discussed at length the implications of their decision to continue supporting Club members, and voted unanimously to follow this course of action. There was a strong feeling that this was the only way we could meet the objectives of the CIO in these highly unusual times.
Despite being officially closed, the Club received its previously agreed Sustainability Grant from Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) in March 2020. This grant (of £13,000) was part of a three-year tapered grant to help new social-care organisations become established and flourish. The OCC continued to pay the 2[nd] stage of this grant in recognition of the out-reach work our staff undertook in Lockdown. We also received several smaller private donations during the financial year, and together these have allowed the Club to finish the accounting year in a relatively secure financial position.
5. Low points of the year
The low point of the year was undoubtedly the deaths of seven of our members, six of whom were Club members and one a trustee/volunteer. Although only one of the deaths was officially attributed to Covid infection, the other six deaths were all exacerbated by the stress of isolation and the disruption in medical care arising from the pandemic.
Apart from those members who died, several members were admitted into full-time residential care as their home situations changed and their carers could no longer cope with the lack of regular respite care.
These figures do not reflect the unquantifiable depression and confusion suffered by some of our Club members who suddenly found themselves deprived of their regular routine of Club attendance, with its friendship and support.
6. High point of the year
The high point of the year has undoubtedly been the way our dedicated staff continued to support our Club members. All our members were designated as ‘clinically vulnerable’ and so all had to isolate in their own homes for most of the year. With half of our members living by themselves, and with very limited permissible visits from their family and friends, many of our members felt extremely lonely and isolated. However, our staff constantly devised ways of extending our ‘out-reach’ project while still following government regulations and guidelines. All members were contacted every week, by phone or personalised letter, as were all of our volunteers. If we became aware of problems, particularly that of deteriorating home circumstances and the potential breakdown of relationships between carers and members, our staff were able to work with Social Services to obtain increased support.
All members received regular activity packs put together by our staff, containing arts and craft projects, tips, jokes and quizzes, as well as news from other members so that they could stay in touch.
We applied for ‘Emergency Covid’ financial support from our District Council (the Vale of White Horse), and were awarded £3200 to supply each member with a monthly hamper of basic food staples, toiletries, and treats (average spend: £30 per hamper). Our ‘Happy Hampers’ scheme ran from June 2020 until June 2021, and allowed our staff to regularly access our members’ homes and assess how they were coping with isolation. The hampers were a great success, not only ensuring that members had regular supplies of food and toiletries, but also – and just as important -- letting them know that they are valued members of society and that people in the community cared about their well-being. The hampers also generated publicity in local parish magazines, and this did much to maintain the profile of the Club within the local community.
7. Looking forward
Despite the Club being shut for all of the 2020/21 financial year, thanks to the hard work of the trustees and staff the Club is still financially viable and there is still a strong sense of ‘Club identity’ both within our members and within the local community. Although seven of our members died last year, and another three had gone into long-term residential care, when we were eventually able to re-open in October 2021 many of our remaining members came back, and
were joined by six new members. We have had initial inquiries from four others. We fully appreciate that it will take time for our numbers to stabilise and return to our pre-COVID levels, but we are optimistic that this is achievable.
We also know that until our membership numbers recover, we will be running at a greater financial deficit. However, we do have financial reserves, and we are hopefully that, given our track record and good reputation, we will receive the third instalment of the OCC Sustainability funding plus other local funding support. The next financial year (2021/22) will be difficult but should be manageable with careful shepherding of our resources.
We know that there will always be a need for the type of service and support our Club supplies, and we are determined to continue to provide these for our local community.
Valery Rose Chair of Trustees
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