2025-12-31-accounts - The Happy Baby Community

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HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY

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The Queen’s Award 2025
for Voluntary Service WINNER
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SUPPORTING PREGNANT WOMEN, MOTHERS, THEIR BABIES AND YOUNG CHILDREN WHO HAVE FLED FROM TRAFFICKERS, VIOLENCE OR WARS AND ARE SEEKING INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION IN THE UK – TO HEAL, THRIVE AND BUILD THEIR COMMUNITY ANNUAL REPORT

Trustees’ Annual Report and Summary Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025 HAPPYBABYCOMMUNITY.ORG.UK

Registered Charity – 1181633

THE POWER OF COMMUNITY

“ When I found out I had to leave Crawley, I was heartbroken. I thought I’d lose the connection with all the wonderful staff and the mums I met there. Happy Baby felt like a family. But when I heard there was another group I could attend in Thornton Heath, I felt hopeful again. Now I am counting down the days until Wednesday, just so I can attend the sessions with my son and be with the lovely team in Thornton Heath. What makes Happy Baby so special is that you support mums in every stage – not just during pregnancy, but also when they are raising young children. That kind of support means everything when you’re far from home.”

Quote from Community Member who moved from Crawley to London.

ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE:

˝�I�love�volunteering�because�I'm�a� single�mother.�It's�not�easy�with� a�child�when�you're�a�new�mum� yourself.�That's�why�I�went�to�the� Happy�Baby�Community.�I�saw�that� it�helps�me�forget�my�stress�there,� so�that's�why�I�decided�to�volunteer� with�Happy�Baby.�I�wanted�to� help�women�like�me�who�are�in� need.�I�love�Happy�Baby;�it's�truly� a�community�that�helps�us�single� mothers.�I�can't�stop�thanking�you,� you�are�the�best�of�friends.̋ Quote from Outreach Team Survey

BUILDING TRUST

˝�Volunteering�with�Happy�Baby� has�truly�been�one�of�the�most� beautiful�experiences�of�my�life.�I� felt�so�welcomed�and�supported�by� a�caring�team�who�are�genuinely� passionate�about�helping�mums� and�babies�at�HBC.�I�was�amazed� by�the�warmth�of�the�team�and�the� genuine,�compassionate�care�they� show�to�every�mum�and�baby�who� walks�through�the�door.�Being�able� to�contribute,�even�in�small�ways,� to�such�meaningful�work�made�me� feel�like�I�was�part�of�something� special.�I’ve�learned�so�much�about� compassion,�patience,�and�teamwork,� and�I�feel�truly�grateful�for�the� opportunity�and�proud�to�have�been� part�of�Happy�Baby’s�mission.̋

Quote from Outreach Team Survey

“ To all ‘The Angels in human Disguise’ here… The way you have supported me and loved me. Feeling so emotional when reflecting back on last few days. I have been discharged from hospital and home now recovering. Each part of my mind is just giving blessings to whole Happy Baby team. Even family could not give this love and mental support which I received!!”

Quote from Community Leader Board Survey

47 2671 3472 395 COUNTRIES MOTHERS CHILDREN VOLUNTEERS

The Happy Baby Community is built by women who know what it means to start again and who give everything to make sure no new mother does it alone. They bring their skills, their languages and their love and they get to share the joy of watching the babies born into this community grow up within it. First steps taken here. First smiles. First words spoken . Children becoming themselves, held and cheered on by a community that has loved them from their very first day.

OUR VISION To care for and

OUR MISSION

To care for and To create and foster a strong sense empower new mums of connection and value among our who have survived members, their children, volunteers, trafficking and violence and staff. We are dedicated to and have sought safety providing opportunities that in the UK, and to enable empower each individual to thrive them and their young and seamlessly integrate into the children to thrive. UK community.

Cover: Illustration ‘Betty-flying’ printed with kind permission of Anita Klein

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025 1

OUR STRATEGY

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Happy Baby Community supports pregnant women and mothers with children under 4 who are navigating the asylum system. This executive summary presents outcomes from our strategic planning process, which engaged trustees, the Community Leader Board, volunteers, management and staff in defining our future direction of HBC.

This strategy positions HBC for sustainable growth while maintaining our unique identity: a womancentred, community-focused organisation with deep lived experience expertise. Rather than pursuing geographic expansion beyond Greater London and its peripheries, we will widely share knowledge and coordinate networks to support vulnerable families across the UK.

By maintaining flexibility in service locations while upholding non-negotiable standards, HBC can adapt to changing dispersal patterns without losing the essential character that makes us a community where every woman and child can thrive.

Our emphasis is on women developing from within HBC – through volunteering, work experience and leadership pathways – reinforcing our founding principles while building sustainable capacity for the future.

PRIORITY GROUPS

CORE COMMITMENTS: WE WILL ALWAYS

We prioritise women who are pregnant or have children 3 years and under in asylum or NRM systems, living in Greater London, including those making fresh asylum claims.

SERVICE DELIVERY

Our community groups remain our foundation, accessible to women and children across Greater London and surroundings. Recognising shifting demographics, with more families in dispersed accommodation. We will maintain flexibility in service locations while ensuring accessibility for the majority of referrals.

GOVERNANCE AND STAFFING

HBC maintains a Board of at least 7 trustees and a Community Leaders Board with decision-making power. We commit to spending at least 85% of income on direct service delivery.

We will continue hotel and hostel outreach and Mums Online virtual support. All referrals receive responses within 4 working days, with ownlanguage communication wherever possible. Pregnant women and mothers with babies under 9 months receive priority contact.

Lived Experience Staffing: We will maintain at least 65% staff with lived experience (currently 82%), a unique aspect of HBC's model supporting women developing within our organisation.

We will co-produce services with our Community Leaders Board, share resources freely with stakeholders, provide regular staff supervision and share our insights and learnings with organisations working on affecting positive change for the women and children in our communities.

SERVICE STANDARDS

HBC commits to providing travel refunds, food at groups, maintaining the highest safeguarding standards and GDPR-compliant data security. We will operate at least 48 weeks per year, with a minimum of two days weekly of online services.

ORGANISATIONAL BOUNDARIES: WE WILL NEVER

These boundaries protect our mission focus and maintain organisational values.

SERVICE BOUNDARIES

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE HBC will never...

VALUES PROTECTION We will not...

HBC will not support...

participate in research without immediate community benefit.
men or unaccompanied boys as primary community members (except as part of family groups).
have male managers or staff in organisational leadership.
- accept grants from organisations that don't support our values.
have male volunteers in front-line roles.
unaccompanied children (except pregnant girls).
share identifiable stories of community members.
families outside the UK.
own property with future liability.

STRATEGIC PRIORITIES: WE WILL TRY

3.1 EXPANDING WHO WE SUPPORT Highest Priorities:

3.3 EXPANDING DIGITAL SUPPORT Highest Priorities:

3.5 EXPANDING PROGRAMME SUPPORT

Highest Priorities:

Offer Mums Online UK-wide to ensure continuity of care for women moved outside our core service areas.
Support migrant women and children not known to authorities – the most vulnerable falling through every safety net.
Increase physical activities, particularly swimming.

• Support children with learning difficulties and their mums to navigate resources.

Support migrant women with no recourse to public funds who are supported by Social Services.
Provide welfare support through Mums Online.
Build employment pathways focusing on job shortage list roles.

Medium Priorities:

Use our data to support campaigns for systemic change
Creative activities and access to external events (museums, theatres' etc).

Medium Priorities: Expand English lessons with volunteer teachers; support for DBS checks enabling employment in health, social care, and education.

Strategic Direction: Maintain our 0–3yrs age focus while reaching families outside of statutory support.

Expand the Every Child can Thrive programme

Strategic Direction: Prioritise holistic wellbeing through group activities and specialised support for additional needs.

Strategic Direction: Leverage Mums Online as our primary digital platform for UK-wide reach, integrating welfare, education and employment support.

3.2 EXPANDING WHERE WE SUPPORT

Highest Priorities:

3.6 EXPANDING VOLUNTEERING, WORK EXPERIENCE & LEADERSHIP

Working with stakeholders in child poverty, to raise issues around Healthy Start and frequent disruptions to continuity in childrens' support, though relocations.

3.4 EXPANDING PRACTICAL SUPPORT

Highest Priorities:

  - Develop work experience pathways in children's team and welfare, building employment skills.

Increase clothing donations and distribution.
Lead UK Perinatal Network, ensuring wrap-around support for families being moved.
Expand food provision with fresh fruit/vegetables for weekly take-home.
Offer leadership programmes to women in our organisation for internal and external development.
Maintain UK-wide interactive service map.
Increase the partnerships that enable mums to have the baby equipment, maternity clothing and slings.

• Expand and monitor the downloads of our multi-lingual, co-produced resources, for UK wide reach.

Strategic Direction: Expand equipment, maternity clothing the HBC model of lived and slings. experience leadership and skills Strategic Direction: Prioritise developments immediate practical needs of newly arrived pregnant women with phones, sims, shoes, culturally appropriate clothes and underwear.

Strategic Direction: Expand impact through leadership and networks rather than opening new HBC communities outside of Greater London. This enables local organisations across the UK to provide support while HBC leads sector improvement.

2 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

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SAFETY NEEDS
Mothers supported in 2025
Mothers supported in 2025 Children supported in 2025 HBC volunteers in 2025
OUR IMPACT
2671 2671 3472 395
Children supported in 2025 ENGLISH LESSON ATTENDANCES
With the generous support of the Clothworkers 3472
Foundation, HBC developed an interactive data
2050
platform that brings together our CRM records HBC staff in 2025
and weekly survey insights into a single, unified dashboard. This powerful tool enables us to track 35
our impact in real time, giving our team a clear HBC volunteers in 2025
and current picture of the communities we serve
and the difference our programmes are making. 395 Education Session
Attendances
94 Staff and Volunteers who Safeguarding Referals
attended full and refresher raised
Perinatal and safeguarding training
SUMMARY breastfeeding sessions 216 14
129 79
Support letters
New mothers Total Income LOVE AND BELONGING
758 2671 Mothers supported in 2025 3472 Children supported in 2025 395 HBC volunteers in 2025
£1,191,655
New children
Total expenditure Doula hours
1038 worked
New volunteers £1,200,295 507 15,210
118
PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS
Mothers supported in 2025 Children supported in 2025 HBC volunteers in 2025
2671 3472 395
Perinatal session
124
32
193
1,267
403
Illustration ‘Maia & Betty’ with
kind permission of Anita Klein
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4 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025 5

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ESTEEM
Mothers supported in 2025 Children supported in 2025 HBC volunteers in 2025
2671 3472 395
COMMUNITY LEADERS BOARD MEETINGS
Number of attendances
30
20
10
0
Community Leaders Community Leaders Community Leader-led
ALL VOLUNTEERS AND HELPERS SUPPORTING THE COMMUNITY
Board Meetings Meetings
GROUPS (13 SESSIONS) IN DECEMBER 2025 (Sample month)
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THRIVING
Mothers supported in 2025 Children supported in 2025 HBC volunteers in 2025
2671 3472 395
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BUILDING TOGETHER: OUR USER-LED MODEL

Built by the community Led by the community Accountable to the community

‘For me, being a member of the Community Leaders Board is about listening to people, making sure everyone has a voice and helping create a community where everyone feels included and part of something. And honestly, being one of the Leaders in the community has helped me grow so much and feel more confident and capable overall.’

COMMUNITY LEADERS BOARD MEMBER

WHAT THE EVIDENCE TELLS US

WHAT WE DO

CO-PRODUCTION WORKS

COMMUNITY LEADERS BOARD

New Economics Foundation research shows services designed with communities achieve stronger engagement, better outcomes, and greater sustainability.

Women from our community sit at the highest level of strategic decision-making. Their priorities set our direction. Their experience holds us to account.

NEW ECONOMICS FOUNDATION – 'BUILT BY US' 04/09/2026

USER-LED MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

PEER SUPPORT BUILDS TRUST

Operational decisions are grounded in real need, shaped by the lived experience of management committee members.

NHS England's peer support evidence framework shows trust, the single biggest predictor of engagement, is built fastest through shared experience.

USER-LED STAFF TEAM

68% of our staff have lived experience of the asylum system.

NHS ENGLAND – SUPPORTED SELF-MANAGEMENT. 01/09/2023

TRAUMA NEEDS AGENCY

USER-LED VOLUNTEER PROGRAMME

The ACEs evidence base shows healing from trauma requires safety, connection and agency. Our model directly addresses all three.

Women move through our community as service members, helpers, volunteers and paid staff; a pathway built on trust, recognition and genuine opportunity.

SOCIAL CAPITAL PROTECTS

Putnam's research on social capital shows strong community networks are among the most powerful protective factors against poverty, poor health and social exclusion. ROBERT PUTNAM – SOCIAL CAPITAL THEORY

COMMUNITY FORUMS

Regular forums and weekly feedback sessions give every member of our community a voice, in their own language to share experiences, shape services and hold HBC to its values.

REPRESENTATION IMPROVES DECISIONS

Organisations whose leadership reflects their communities make better decisions and respond more effectively to need.

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

FACING THE REALITY: CHALLENGES OF 2025

STATUS – BUT NO SAFETY

NOWHERE TO SETTLE

For women granted refugee status, the promise of safety quickly collides with a brutal reality: a 28-day window to leave Home Office accommodation and find housing in a hugely pressured rental market. Local authority housing lists are overwhelmed. Private landlords are inaccessible. The result, again and again, is homelessness, or the threat of it.

The mass closure of asylum hotels as a part of the government's drive to reduce accommodation costs has pushed thousands of families into dispersal at speed, scattering communities and severing the continuity of care that is essential for pregnant women, new mothers, and young children. Women who had built trust with our services, with their midwives, with their neighbours, were moved overnight. For many, HBC was the only thread of consistency they could hold onto.

THE SHADOW OF TRAFFICKING

A POUND THAT BUYS LESS EVERY WEEK

Asylum seekers receive £49.18 per week to cover all living costs outside accommodation. Against a backdrop of sustained food and energy inflation, this sum has become increasingly impossible to live on. We see the impact directly in the hunger families described, in the cold homes they returned to, in the impossible choices between eating and travel to critical appointments.

Distrust of authority is not irrational – it is often learned. For women who have experienced trafficking, exploitation, or abuse at the hands of those who claimed to help them, engagement with any formal system requires extraordinary courage. Traffickers exploit precisely this distrust, positioning themselves as the only trustworthy alternative. This year we worked with women for whom the fear of their trafficker was more immediate than any protection the state could offer.

BODIES AND MINDS ON HIGH ALERT

Chronic uncertainty takes a profound toll. Hypervigilance from the constant threatreadiness that develops in response to trauma and instability is profoundly visible in mothers who struggle to sleep, to eat, to build connection, and in toddlers whose behaviour reflected the anxiety of the adults around them.

8 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

THE POWER OF VOLUNTEERING

THE 102,700 HOURS GENEROUSLY GIVEN BY OUR VOLUNTEERS THIS YEAR REPRESENT AN ESTIMATED VALUE OF £1.64 MILLION TO HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY AND THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN WE SUPPORT. THIS FIGURE THAT SPEAKS TO THE EXTRAORDINARY COMMITMENT AT THE HEART OF EVERYTHING WE DO.

NB: The Replacement Cost Model – HACT Social Value Bank £16 ph

Volunteers are fundamental to our organisation. The face-to-face groups and our online community are totally reliant on the generosity, hard work and reliability of these volunteers: doulas, teachers, our trained listening team, welfare advisors, translators, befrienders, childcare helpers, breastfeeding supporters, knitters, sewers, trustees, mentors, welcome team, doctors, digital champions, cooks, therapists and outreach ambassadors.

Many of the women who seek asylum through HBC continue to walk through our doors long after their children start nursery, offering their support to others as volunteers. The professional lives, skills and studies they carried from their homelands – in nursing, teaching, IT, beauty, crafting and beyond, bring extraordinary insight and empathy to everything they do with us.

from across the UK who give their time and expertise to broaden horizons and open doors. Whether offering legal guidance, employment support, language practice, friendship, they help extend the reach of our community outward, walking alongside women as they find their footing, build confidence and integrate into life in the UK.

Every volunteer is welcomed with a comprehensive induction into our values and expectations and supported with regular safeguarding training throughout their time with HBC. We value and celebrate volunteering, through two community celebrations each year and monthly forums where they can share their experiences and enable HBC to shape how we work.

When asylum is granted, these volunteers are wellplaced to apply for paid roles within HBC, and are often prioritised for them. Their lived experience is the foundation of HBC.

Alongside them, we are enriched by volunteers who bring a different and equally vital gift: professionals, community members and specialists

VOLUNTEERING: THE HEART OF OUR COMMUNITY-LED MODEL

Volunteering is one of the most powerful forces for building belonging. Research consistently shows that when people contribute to something larger than themselves – giving time, sharing skills, showing up for others, they develop stronger social bonds, greater confidence and a deeper sense of place and purpose. Our volunteer programme is consciously designed around this. We don't ask people simply to fill a rota, we invite them into a community of practice, where their contribution is visible, valued and consequential. The monthly forums, the celebrations, the inductions that centre our values: are the architecture of belonging.

Volunteering at HBC also builds outward. As volunteers grow in confidence and connection, they become bridges, between languages, between cultures, between our community and the wider world. They carry HBC's values into neighbourhoods, networks and institutions, expanding what our community is and who it reaches. HBC invests in volunteering to ensure the community is resilient, cohesive and sustainable.

‘Happy Baby is more than just a place to volunteer for me; it is a community that has supported me, strengthened me, and allowed me to give back despite my own challenges. I am truly grateful to be part of it.’

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER

'When�I�

arrived�to�UK,�it�was�not� easy�at�the�first.�I�had�to�adapt�to� a�new�environment�and�new�culture.� Volunteering�with�Happy�Baby�made�a� big�difference�in�my�life.�It�helped�me� build�confidence,�meet�new�people� and�feel�part�of�the�community.'

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER

‘I enjoyed taking part of different activities such as translation, as it helped me support other mothers and improve my

language. The cooking too made me experience a new skills.’

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY MUM

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HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025 11

SAFE START: OUR PERINATAL PROGRAMME

In 2025, over 500 pregnant women and new mothers seeking sanctuary found a community ready to walk alongside them. Not one of them faced that journey alone.

507 65 15,210 40 MOTHERS TRAINED DOULAS HOURS PREGNANT MUMS SUPPORTED IN 2025 & BREASTFEEDING OF DOULA SUPPORTED EACH (3.4% increase) CONSULTANTS SUPPORT GIVEN MONTH (ON AVERAGE)

EVERY SINGLE CALL ANSWERED

OPEN 24/7

WEEKS OF THE YEAR 52

IMMEDIATE, PERSONALISED CARE

SUPPORT THAT DOESN’T STOP AT BIRTH

From the moment a mother reaches us, she is welcomed in her own language. She leads, choosing one-to-one doula support, breastfeeding guidance, birth preparation, community sessions, or a reassuring voice on the phone. Every pathway is valid. Every woman decides.

Our peer support programme, staffed by trained women who have walked this path themselves, provides weekly calls throughout the postnatal period. In 2025 we expanded our Continuity & Equity programme, reaching mothers with less engagement and those who had moved away, ensuring no one faces low mental health or breastfeeding difficulties in isolation.

Up to half of mothers choose dedicated oneto-one doula care. And when a doula is at the hospital supporting a birth, every other mother still has someone to call, whatever the hour, whatever the worry. A familiar, interpreted and trained voice always answers.

We also expanded our translated health resources to cover induction of labour, anaemia in pregnancy and care for survivors of FGM.

“I want to say a big thank you for the beautiful baby things you sent me. When I received your help, I was so happy that I cried, because until now, I couldn’t buy anything for my baby. Your kindness really touched my heart.”

“I’m good now, thank you – but always when I think about that moment, I couldn’t keep my tears in. You are making women feel that they are not alone at that moment. God bless you. Love to you.”

HBC MOTHER

EXTRAORDINARY COMMITMENT, EXTRAORDINARY VALUE

Our doula team – among the most experienced in the country – choose to give their time at just 25% of the commercial rate for a birth doula, because this work is about solidarity and shared experience. Their 45,000 hours of support in 2025 would cost many times our annual budget at market rates. At HBC, it is simply what we do.

“H says she is in much better shape and that I’d been like a mother to her. She has returned to our community group as a volunteer, saying she wants to give back a little for all the love she received from HBC.”

THE DIFFERENCE IT MAKES…

“As K and the mum she was supporting began talking more deeply, they realised they share the same religion and speak the same language. In that moment, K was no longer just ‘a doula’ – she became a sister, an auntie, a familiar and trusted presence. That sense of safety and connection was palpable.”

“The baby

is almost ready to be discharged. E is certainly enjoying motherhood and totally embracing it. She can’t thank us enough for the support, care and love we have shown her. She reckons that when she writes her book there will be a whole chapter on HBC.”

HBC DOULA, BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT

A FATHER WRITES…

HBC DOULA, SCBU SUPPORT

DOULA MENTOR

“I would like to sincerely thank you and the entire Happy Baby Community team for the remarkable work you do with such dedication and humanity. And for standing with vulnerable individuals whose dignity must be protected at all costs.”

A FATHER

WHAT OUR PARTNERS SAY…

“ The work that you and your team do at Happy Baby Community is phenomenal and makes an immeasurable difference to those most vulnerable in the community. We also very much value the connection that we have with your organisation.”

“ The Happy Baby Community plays a vital role in the care given to mothers seeking asylum and I have seen firsthand how your service makes a difference to the families we both support.”

LEAD MIDWIFE FOR CULTURAL SAFETY

LEAD MIDWIFE FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS

SHAPING THE SYSTEM FROM THE INSIDE

HBC doulas now represent mothers at hospital Trusts across London and Surrey through Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnerships. This year HBC mothers offered their voices as Experts by Experience with London Ambulance Service and Birth Companions, shaping improved care for perinatal women seeking sanctuary. 2025 ended with two landmark achievements: re-accreditation with the City of Sanctuary Maternity Stream and the co-founding of the first national Asylum Perinatal Network, bringing together third sector and statutory professionals to drive lasting change across the country.

THIS WORK IS NOT JUST SUPPORTING INDIVIDUAL WOMEN. WE ARE HELPING TO RESHAPE AN ENTIRE SYSTEM.

Illustration ‘Fingers and Toes’ with kind permission of Anita Klein

12 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HBC’S RESPONSE: OUR PROGRAMME ACTIVITIES

1209 317 CHILDREN SESSIONS ATTENDED SESSIONS DELIVERED ACROSS IN 2025 THE YEAR

THE ISSUES: ACES AND ASYLUM-SEEKING CHILDREN

Adverse Childhood Experiences are traumatic events and conditions in early life strongly linked to poor outcomes across the life course. Children in the asylum system face an exceptional concentration of ACEs. Many arrive having already experienced war, displacement or bereavement.

POVERTY Families survive on as little as £49.18 per week. This falls below any meaningful measure of adequate nutrition or stimulation for a growing child. They are not entitled to access the UK NHS Healthy Start Programme.

The first 1,001 days of a child's life are the period of fastest brain development a human being will ever experience. At HBC, we make sure those days are filled with safety, stimulation and love.

22 18 CHILDREN'S SWIMMING TEAM SESSIONS VOLUNTEERS DELIVERED

THE RESEARCH: WHY EARLY INTERVENTION IS ESSENTIAL

The ACE evidence base demonstrates that adversity in the earliest years rewires the developing brain’s stress response system. Children who experience four or more ACEs are four times more likely to develop depression. The good news is equally clear: ACEs are not destiny. The single most powerful protective factor is a stable, nurturing relationship between a child and a caring adult. Play is neurological infrastructure. Evidencebased play delivered in a safe community setting builds language, emotional regulation, cognitive flexibility and social connection simultaneously. For children whose early environment has been shaped by fear and instability, structured play in a trusted community is among the most significant interventions available.

EAT THE RAINBOW I LIKE TO MOVE IT Sensory food Movement and physical exploration that play rooted in evidence builds nutrition around gross motor familiarity, stimulates development, development and creates emotional joyful shared experiences regulation between mothers and and the children. Many families neurological have experienced benefits of active food insecurity and play for attention, this programme builds coordination and confidence and curiosity growing confidence around food. in young children.

A GROUNDED SPACE IN AN UNCERTAIN WORLD

When so much around them feels uncertain, children regularly attending HBC experience the freedom that comes from stability. The freedom to explore, to connect, to laugh and to take small brave steps because they feel held within a consistent and nurturing community.

HBC is a stabilising relational environment. A place of consistent care, joyful connection and community-led belonging. For children living with chronic stress, that matters enormously.

RHYME TIME

Early language and literacy delivered multilingually, honouring every mother tongue while building phonological awareness, vocabulary and love of language that underpin school readiness and lifelong learning.

INSTABILITY

Repeated forced moves sever the routines and relationships young children need. Each move resets the trust they have carefully built.

PARENTAL STRESS AND TRAUMA

A mother’s mental health is one of the strongest predictors of her child’s outcomes. When mothers carry unresolved trauma, babies feel it in their bodies and in their earliest understanding of the world.

EARLY NHS ENGLAND INTERVENTION / UNICEF FOUNDATION Children with Failure to address consistent earlyACEs costs the years stimulation UK economy an show measurably estimated £23 better language billion every year outcomes, emotional in health, education, regulation and school criminal justice and readiness regardless lost productivity. of prior adversity.

14 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

WHAT CHANGE LOOKS LIKE: THREE STORIES

FROM ANXIETY TO BELONGING: FINDING SAFETY IN THE FAMILIAR

FROM DYSREGULATION TO CONFIDENCE: LEARNING TO SHARE, TO ASK AND TO PLAY

FROM CLINGING TO EXPLORATION: ONE SMALL STEP, ONE BIG MOMENT

When her mum stepped “A” previously became away, one little girl became distressed when other distressed. She had recently children entered his play started nursery and feared space. At a recent session he being left again. Once arrived calm and confident. the familiar bubbles and He approached the team singing session began she lead independently and visibly relaxed. The routine, asked clearly for the the music and the trusted dinosaurs before settling faces helped her feel safe. into play. When another She rejoined the group child approached he shared smiling and participating. one and engaged in turntaking play. No outbursts. A GROWING SENSE OF BELONGING No distress. AND EMOTIONAL SECURITY BUILT THROUGH REPEATED EXPOSURE SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS IN TO A CONSISTENT AND SELF-REGULATION, WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT.

A two-and-a-half-year-old who usually stayed close to his mother watched other children playing on the stepping stones. On this occasion he chose to join in. He stepped forward independently, smiling and engaged. His mother beamed with pride.

MOVING FROM OBSERVATION TO PARTICIPATION SHOWS GROWING CONFIDENCE AND WILLINGNESS TO EXPLORE THE WORLD INDEPENDENTLY.

SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS IN SELF-REGULATION, COMMUNICATION AND THE ABILITY TO SOCIALISE WITH PEERS.

These are foundational life skills. For children whose wider lives feel uncertain, HBC becomes a stable reference point where they feel safe, seen and secure enough to grow.

OUTCOMES: WHAT REGULAR ATTENDANCE BUILDS

GREATER SENSE OF BELONGING AND EMOTIONAL SECURITY		INCREASED EMOTIONAL REGULATION AND SELF-MANAGEMENT		ENHANCED CONFIDENCE IN EXPLORING NEW SPACES		IMPROVED ABILITY TO SOCIALISE, SHARE AND TAKE TURNS
MORE INDEPENDENT ENGAGEMENT IN PLAY AND GROUP ACTIVITIES		INCREASED LAUGHTER, JOY AND PARTICIPATION IN SHARED ROUTINES		GROWING AUTONOMY INCLUDING POSITIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH FOOD		CHILDREN ARRIVING AT SCHOOL READY TO LEARN, CONNECT AND BELONG

HOW WE MEASURE THIS: Observable indicators including how children become independent from their mums, how they enter the space, how often they initiate interaction, their willingness to explore independently and the frequency and consistency of attendance.

KEEPING EVERYONE SAFE IS EVERYONE'S BUSINESS: OUR COMMITMENT TO SAFEGUARDING

Your safeguarding policies, training, safer recruitment practices, and how you protect vulnerable families

Safeguarding is a key priority at Happy Baby Community. Many families who we support are vulnerable. It is vital that all our staff and volunteers know what Safeguarding is and our duty to share information with statutory agencies. The HBC Safeguarding Policy and the mandatory Basic Awareness training including PREVENT is updated annually to ensure they all reflect any changes in legislation, policy and practice. It is mandatory for all staff and volunteers to attend when they join and repeat bi-annually.

The HBC Safeguarding lead introduced a quarterly safeguarding forum where staff and volunteers can discuss what is safeguarding and share any issues they have. These sessions provide a vital space for staff and volunteers to think together, to share concerns about a child's wellbeing, to discuss when and how to intervene and to reflect on the complexity of supporting families navigating the profound cultural shift of parenting in a new country. When a volunteer who has raised children across two continents sits alongside a newly trained staff member to ask “what does this behaviour mean, and what does this family need?” this is safeguarding at its most sophisticated. It is culturally intelligent, community-rooted and child-centred. This is possible because of the extraordinary depth of lived experience within our team.

This year Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) highlights the changes in the definition of ‘welfare of children’ in Working Together 2020 and states that all voluntary and community organisations (sic) have a legal duty of care to protect children from harm and ‘provide help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge’. HBC's response is to encourage staff and volunteers to share any concerns they have about the welfare of a child as soon as it happens, and recognise and fully comprehend that that early support can prevent a situation from deteriorating, and there are other services who can provide specialist support.

CASE STUDY

baby, she is also exhausted taking care of them both and has recently been moved to a new area. We encourage her to come to the group, ask her permission to share her details with local Early Help services and to talk to her health visitor, and give her some toys to take home for her older child, while agreeing a plan with her to help her to manage her child’s behaviour at the group.

This mum has a new born baby and a toddler. The toddler is running around the group and is seen hitting other children on several occasions and their mother doesn't intervene. When spoken to she says she is worried about her older child as their behaviour has changed since the birth of her

16 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025 17

EXPANDING OUR REACH: A LEARNING, COLLABORATIVE CHARITY AND A COMMUNITY IN MOTION

Over the last three years HBC has invested in developing its staff to building their capacity, confidence and creativity to meet the challenges our community faces with skill, adaptability and kindness.

At the core of everything within HBC is a commitment to equity for the women and children who are too often overlooked, unseen or treated as if they themselves are the problem. These are hardworking, generous, extraordinarily resilient women, contributing their skills and love to their communities and enriching the space they enter.

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HBC NORTH HBC
EAST
HBC
WEST
HBC
SOUTH
REDHILL
CRAWLEY
MONTHLY
MAPPING OF WHERE OUR MOTHERS ARE AND
EVERY RESOURCE AROUND THEM
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Our aim is for these values to ripple outward through every mother who advocates for herself and others, every doula who offer support that raises the standard of care, every volunteer who brings their lived knowledge into a professional setting and every member of staff who walks into a room and speaks with authority about what these families need.

HBC actively invests in that ripple through four commitments.

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64
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STAKEHOLDERS ACROSS THE UK COMMITTED TO THE NATIONAL PERINATAL NETWORK

OUR FOUR COMMITMENTS

1 2 SHARING KNOWLEDGE WIDELY

THE NATIONAL PERINATAL ASYLUM NETWORK

Our library of co-produced resources, translated into multiple languages, is freely available to any professional or family who needs it. Built with the women in our community, these materials travel wherever women go. We actively share them with NHS Trusts, VCSE partners, national networks and fellow practitioners so that the knowledge embedded in our community has wide reach.

Sixty-four stakeholders across the UK united in ensuring that no asylum-seeking woman falls through the gaps of perinatal support. Together we work to make sure women are empowered with knowledge, connected to practical support and able to carry their medical records across every transition.

MAPPING NEED IN REAL TIME

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION THAT DRIVES ACTION

Every month we map where our mothers are living and the resource available to them, family hubs, children’s centres, maternity services and statutory provision. We build active relationships with those stakeholders so that referral pathways flow in both directions. When a professional meets one of our mothers, they know how to reach us. When one of our mothers moves, we know who can reach her.

In 2025 HBC developed a comprehensive organisational dashboard and feedback system, giving us real-time visibility of outcomes, attendance, referrals and emerging need across all our services. When something changes for the families we serve, we know and we respond.

SEEN. SUPPORTED. EQUAL.

“ Every mother and child in our community deserves to be seen fully, supported equitably and treated with the dignity that is their absolute right. That is what every partnership, every resource and every relationship we build is working toward.”

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

OUR FINANCES: WHERE YOUR SUPPORT GOES

Income and expenditure 2025

HBC’S TOTAL HBC’S TOTAL INCOME EXPENDITURE £1.192M £1.2M (2024: £1.2M) (2024: £1.1M)

In 2025, Happy Baby Community entered a deliberate year of consolidation, deepening what works, strengthening the people who deliver it and ensuring that every woman and child who reached out was met with the same unwavering response: yes, we are here.

During the year the charity also invested in strengthening its internal systems, developing HR and payroll processes and ensuring full GDPR compliance, building the organisational foundations that allow a growing team to operate with confidence and accountability.

Total income for the year reached £1.19M against a planned budget of £1.2M , with expenditure of £1.2M closely monitored throughout, a reflection of the careful, transparent financial stewardship that underpins everything the charity does. This was sustained by the continued development of long-term partnerships with trusts and foundations, with an increasing number of funders committing to multi-year agreements that provide the stability to plan, invest, and respond. Alongside this, HBC's network of delivery and referral partners expanded further, deepening the web of support available to women and children across all locations.

The year brought significant challenge alongside its achievements. The Barking community opened in April 2025 in direct response to a sudden influx of 94 women relocated to local hotels, and closed in August 2025 when those hotels were decommissioned. This reflects the reality faced by the women we serve, their lives shaped by decisions outside their control and it underlines why HBC is both data-driven and agile: ready to follow need, build relationships with Home Office accommodation providers and stand up services at pace wherever women are placed. Across all other locations, however, the work expanded and so did the need. HBC supported 15% more women in 2025 than the year before, many facing harder circumstances than ever: rising living costs eroding already precarious household stability and deepening barriers to accessing health services that should be a basic right.

HBC's team of 28 staff, (12.5 FTE) reflects a deliberate and principled approach to employment. As an organisation that employs women with lived experience of the asylum system and women with young children, HBC takes pride in being a genuinely healthy and supportive place to work. Three simple pay levels provide transparency and fairness and our pay is average 35% above the London Living Wage, a conscious recognition that the cost of living in London, particularly for families with young children, demands more than the minimum.

Rather than simply scaling provision, HBC invested in the infrastructure behind it, strengthening the referral team, deepening its data-driven evidence base and expanding its platforms to reach further and respond faster. Mums Online grew significantly within the

year: English lessons at all levels, information and advice sessions and social groups designed specifically for women on the move were all expanded.

The ambassador team grew, hotel and hostel visits became more frequent and relationships with accommodation providers were deepened.

Follow-up became a defining feature of the model. If a woman stopped attending, someone called. If she was moved suddenly, someone was on the phone ready to help.

All of this was achieved within the existing budget and staff team. It is evidence of something that runs through everything HBC does: the agility to read changing needs and circumstances and respond quickly and effectively. That agility does not come from systems alone. It comes from the values at the very heart of the charity and from a staff team that is well-supported, well-resourced and deeply committed to the women they serve.

Volunteering was a particular area of growth and pride. The number of volunteers increased by 23%, reflecting both the charity's deliberate investment in recruitment, training and volunteer development and a significant expansion in the support offered to community members, especially women with lived experience, to take their first steps into volunteering. This pathway from beneficiary to volunteer to paid staff member remains one of the most powerful expressions of HBC's user-led model and 2025 saw it strengthened meaningfully.

Central to this was the further development of Every Child Can Thrive, HBC's evidence-based children's programme, enriched through both internal capacity-building and external training for staff. The team grew in skill and confidence, better equipped to reach the women and children most frequently overlooked by statutory services: those who are unregistered, repeatedly moved, and navigating pregnancy or early parenthood without stability or continuity of care. Addressing the profound developmental needs of children who have moved multiple times, and the acute vulnerabilities of pregnant women facing the same disruption, became a defining focus of the year.

2025 was also the year HBC invested seriously in its own governance and long-term direction. The Community Leaders Board, made up of women with lived experience of the asylum system, was supported to grow in confidence and capability, taking an increasingly active role in strategic decision-making and ensuring that the voices of those closest to the work continue to shape it.

HBC’s commitment to user-led leadership sat at the heart of a whole-charity strategic planning process undertaken during the year, producing a clear framework for budgeting and planning across the next three years. The approach has been deliberate: to ensure HBC is a genuine going concern, with diverse and resilient income streams, strong partnerships and the organisational foundations to sustain its mission through whatever challenges lie ahead.

Through it all, one commitment remained nonnegotiable: no call unanswered, no need turned away. HBC's 24/7 support for pregnant women ensured that at every hour, someone was available, a lifeline of continuity in lives characterised by uncertainty.

By the end of the year, the charity held total funds of £371,225, with £160,301 restricted to future projects and £210,924 unrestricted. These reserves, combined with a growing funder base, an expanding partner network and a stronger organisation than ever before, mean Happy Baby Community enters 2026 in a position of genuine strength consolidated, confident and ready to meet every need that comes.

20 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

Donations in kind

In line with best practice as set out in the Charities SORP, the value of donated goods distributed during the year has been recognised in the accounts as both income and expenditure, where the charity had control over the goods, was able to reliably measure their value, and used them in the furtherance of its charitable purposes.

Reserves

The Trustees continually monitor the charity’s financial position and specifically review its required level of reserves each year. This review takes into account the types of income and the risks and uncertainties associated with each; the level of fixed costs including salaries and property rent; variable costs associated with providing our services; the needs of the families whom we support; the funds required to achieve our strategic goals; and any oneoff expenditure planned in the foreseeable future.

RESERVES POLICY

The Happy Baby Community holds just over £210,000 of unrestricted funds. The Charity Reserves Policy has been agreed in accordance with the Charity Commission Guidance. The charity reserves are an essential element of the strategic, operational and budgetary planning and are set to ensure the charity is operating with sufficient unrestricted funds to avoid financial challenges in 2025 and 2026.

Happy Baby Community aims to maintain reserves equivalent to at least 25% of the annual operating expenditure, which based on the budget forecast for 2024 amounts to £300,000. This has grown since 2024 following demand and accordingly plans are being refined in order to achieve this target over the next 2-3 years. This target will continue to be periodically reviewed and adjusted based on the organisation’s needs, financial position, and regulatory requirements.

Going concern

Happy Baby Community operates in an environment shaped by inconsistent and rapidly shifting policy and practice. During 2025, the Home Office's drive to address the backlog of asylum claims triggered a 91% increase in appeals, of which 66% were successful, creating significant uncertainty and movement for families already in precarious situations. Debates around who should be housed within the asylum system and where continued to disrupt the location of women and children. Arrivals via small boats increased by 13%, bringing with them a higher proportion of vulnerable women and children than in previous years. Taken together these changes place growing and unpredictable demand on HBC commitment to ensuring no one is without support.

The principal risks the charity faces is its capacity to meet the needs of the women and children it serves and to keep them, its staff and its volunteers safe as those needs grow and the circumstances around them shift with little warning.

In response, the Trustees have reviewed the level of reserves currently held, along with budgeted income and expenditure and are confident that the charity's funds will be sufficient to sustain its activities for a period of at least twelve months from the date of finalising these accounts. Accordingly, the accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis.

That confidence is grounded not only in financial reserves but in the strength of HBC's leadership. A strong, evidence-driven and well-resourced management team and Board of Trustees enable the charity to respond to change with both agility and prudence, adapting quickly where the needs of women and children demand, while maintaining the stability and accountability that funders and partners rightly expect.

A broader discussion of the risks and uncertainties facing Happy Baby Community and the management of those risks is set out in the following section: Structure, Governance and Management.

Investment policy

In addition to the balance held in the charity’s current accounts, £85,000 is placed in a medium term interest-bearing deposit Charity Bank.

22 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

STRUCTURE GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governance

AUDITORS

Third Sector Accountancy Ltd, Holyoake House, Hanover Street, Manchester M60 0AS thirdsectoraccountancy.coop

The charity is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), registered as a charity on 19th January 2019. The charity was established under its constitution based on the ‘Foundation CIO’ model. The constitution establishes the objects and powers of the CIO and sets out the way in which it is governed. The Trustees are the only members of the charity and are entitled only to voting rights. The Trustees. The Trustees have no beneficial interest in the charity and in the event of winding-up, they have no liability to contribute to its assets and no personal responsibility for settling its debts and liabilities. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the charity’s constitution and the Statement of Recommended Practice – Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102 (issued October 2019).

BANKERS

CAF Bank, 25 Kings Hill Avenue, West Malling, Kent ME14 4JQ
Metro Bank, One Southampton Row, London WC1B 5HA
Charity Bank, Fosse House. 182 High Street, Tonbridge, TN9 1BE
Co-operative Bank, PO Box 4931, Swindon SN4 4PL

PUBLIC BENEFIT

The Trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity’s aims and objectives and in planning its future activities. In particular, the Trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set.

TRUSTEES

Sabrina Bals – Chair Catherine Sullivan, ADD ACA – Treasurer Penelope Farrar – Finance Committee and Risk Lead Tamar Natsvlishvili, ACCA – Finance Committee Sarah Hughes – Safeguarding Lead Andrena Cumella – Leadership Lead Ouafia Ibrir – Community Leadership David Noble – Legal Lead Katherine Waterfall – Perinatal Lead

HBC CHARITABLE OBJECTIVES:

1 To preserve and promote the mental and physical health of pregnant women and women and girls, who have children up to the age of four years, who have experienced physical or mental ill health or disability as a result of violations of human rights, torture, human trafficking and domestic and sexual violence and abuse.

THE COMMUNITY LEADERS BOARD

Andrena Cumella – Chair Jesmina Kadriaj – Vice-Chair Nadia Rahman Narges Askari Zewdi Amanuel Miklovana Demja Ansam Khaled

2 To provide financial and other forms of relief for refugees and those seeking international protection, in particular mothers and their children who are in conditions of hardship or distress.

MANAGEMENT EXECUTIVES

Sue Balmer and Lucy Bracken – Co-Directors Jill Miller – Perinatal Director

3 To advance the education and training of people in need thereof so as to advance them in life, build self-confidence, basic skills and an ability to make an impact upon their own lives and assist them to adapt within a new community.

CHARITY NUMBER 1181633

REGISTERED OFFICE

Anselm's Mission Hall, 11 Sancroft Steet, London SE11 5UG

APPOINTMENT AND INDUCTION ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE OF TRUSTEES AND DECISION MAKING

Roles are openly advertised and Trustees are recruited through an interview process led by nominated members of the Board of Trustees and the Community Leaders Board. New Trustees receive an induction programme which includes meetings with key members of the management team, a briefing pack and at least one site visit.

The Board of Trustees has collective responsibility for everything that the charity does, including the legal responsibility to ensure it is controlled and properly managed. The Board delegates responsibility for operational management to the Executive Directors and the Management Committee.

To develop plans, policies and procedures, The Management Committee follow the Board’s advice and require their approval. As at 31 December 2025, the staff team are as shown.

All Trustees commit to volunteering with The Happy Baby Community regularly so that they have a good understanding of the work that the charity does.

All Board members participate in an annual review and objective setting process, led by the Chair of Trustees. Trustees are appointed for a three-year term with the option to renew for a further two three-year terms.

The Board of Trustees is responsible for the strategic direction of the charity and meets quarterly together with the Executive Directors and management team to review progress and to ensure the charity is on track to meet its objectives. The Board has two sub-committees: a Finance Committee and the Community Leaders Board.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

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FINANCE & FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE THE COMMUNITY LEADERS BOARD
LUCY (CO-DIRECTOR) JILL SUE (CO-DIRECTOR)
Perinatal
Fundraising / Monitoring & Reporting Director Volunteers / Children / Welfare / Safeguarding & Therapy
JOLANDA
OLA HIWOT MARINE BETH SOPHY DEBORAH DEBBIE SUE
MANAGERS Finance & Events Outreach Leadership, Skills & Services Manager Volunteer Volunteer Safeguarding & Welfare Every Child Can
(Perinatal &
Manager Manager Comms Manager Manager Manager Therapy Lead Manager Thrive
Administration)
DEPUTY
DOVILE DREW SARAH HANNAH
MANAGERS
Finance & Hotel Leadership Perinatal Volunteer recruitment Safe- Help Children’s
Payroll Outreach Program Program & training guarding Team Programme
Employment Welcome Therapy
Community Pathway Team Assessment
Groups:
Thornton Heath / Mums online Risk Listening
Stratford / Crawley Management Team
/ Acton / Barnet /
Redhill Practical
Data
Support
External
Comms
Community HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY
Leaders
Board
ORGANISATION CHART
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24 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

THE COMMUNITY LEADERS BOARD

The Community Leaders Board (CLB) was formally established in 2024 as a designated Committee of the HBC Board of Trustees. This innovative governance structure embodies our commitment to centring the voices of women with lived experience in our decision-making processes. The CLB sits between the Trustee Board and the Management Committee in our governance structure, focusing specifically on designing service delivery to meet community needs. Chaired by Trustee Andrena Cumella, with Jesmina Kadriaj serving as Vice Chair, the CLB consists of six members representing different cultural backgrounds and program areas within HBC.

Each CLB member serves as a Champion for specific service areas, including Perinatal Support, Children’s Programs, Education and Employment, enabling in-depth knowledge and representation across all HBC activities. The CLB meets bi-monthly, with representatives attending The Trustee Board meetings to ensure seamless communication between governance bodies.

Through this structure, HBC ensures that the expertise of women with lived experience directly influences our strategic priorities and operational decisions, strengthening our ability to provide responsive, culturally appropriate services to mothers and children seeking safety in the UK.

REMUNERATION POLICY

All Trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. Any expenses reclaimed from the charity are set out in note 12 to the accounts.

In setting salaries, HBC strives to pay at a competitive level within the sector and considers changes in the cost of living/inflation and changes to roles and responsibilities.

The charity also takes into account the need to remain prudent so that salary costs are sustainable both at the current time and in the future. All employees are paid are paid above the London Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

The Board of Trustees reviews and agrees the annual remuneration of the Executives and agrees the remuneration level of senior staff, in conjunction with the Co-Directors.

HBC is committed to creating roles that enable people to balance purpose-driven work with other priorities in life.

EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Our Management Committee led an in-depth review of HBC’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion policy in 2025, with Trustee David Noble providing legal guidance throughout the process. This comprehensive review incorporated input from multiple stakeholders, including partner organisations, funders and service users.

The Community Leaders Board played a crucial role in evaluating and refining policy recommendations, ensuring they authentically reflected the diverse experiences of our community members and created meaningful pathways for inclusion at all levels of the organisation.

Our 2026 Strategy includes mandatory EDI training for all staff and volunteers, which will be led by Deborah Wright, our Safeguarding Lead. The training program has been specifically designed to provide sufficient time for participants to thoroughly understand, reflect upon and integrate the policy principles into their daily work. Rather than a one-time session, the training will be delivered in multiple modules throughout the year, allowing for deeper engagement and practical application of concepts.

This methodical approach ensures that equity, diversity and inclusion become embedded in our organisational culture and practices, strengthening HBC’s ability to provide responsive and inclusive support to all community members.

OUR VOLUNTEERS: THE HEART OF HBC Approx. 395 102,700 HOURS Volunteers of volunteering in 2025

The Trustees extend their deepest and most heartfelt gratitude to the 295 active volunteers who gave their time, skills and love to the Happy Baby Community in 2025.

In a challenging funding environment, the economic value of their contribution is significant. But it is their human impact that sits beyond any calculation. They transform our vision into lived reality, and they embody everything HBC stands for: compassion, inclusivity and the fierce belief that every mother and child deserves to feel seen.

Our volunteers are not additional support. They are HBC. They are the welcoming faces at our community groups, the doulas holding hands through labour, the English teachers, the listeners, the advocates, the sewers, the knitters and the packers who show up — day after day — because they believe in what we are building together. Their cultural knowledge, lived experience and language skills create connections that no professional qualification can replicate.

The Happy Baby Community exists because of them. The Trustees recognise this with humility and with pride.

26 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

FUNDRAISING

Fundraising is led by Co-Director Lucy Bracken, with significant involvement from the Management Committee, and delivered by retained fundraiser, Caroline Campbell. All fundraising is carried out by staff employed directly by the charity or by retained professionals working under close supervision. The charity spent less than 0.6% of its annual turnover on fundraising activity.

OUR APPROACH

HBC's fundraising is relationship-led and valuesdriven. In 2025 the sector became significantly more competitive as AI tools made grant applications faster to produce, driving a marked increase in competition for trust and foundation funding. Against this backdrop HBC performed strongly, securing support from 38 funders and exceeding its fundraising targets. That success reflects years of deliberate relationship-building and a careful, selective approach to identifying funders where there is authentic strategic fit on both sides. Funders are welcomed to visit community hubs, meet staff and volunteers and see the impact of their investment directly.

A significant development in 2025 was the introduction of HBC's new organisational dashboard and management information system, greatly enhancing the charity's ability to report with precision and accountability. Looking to 2026, HBC is developing its approach to high-net-worth individual giving, collaborative bids and statutory funders, broadening its income base to match the scale of its ambition.

FUNDRAISING REGULATION AND VOLUNTARY STANDARDS

Happy Baby Community is not currently registered with the Fundraising Regulator. As a charity whose income has only recently exceeded £1 million, we are actively reviewing this position. Our fundraising expenditure remains below £100,000, meaning the voluntary levy threshold does not apply. We operate in full compliance with the principles of the Code of Fundraising Practice, which informs how retained fundraisers

are briefed, how applications are reviewed and how we communicate with supporters. We do not use door-to-door, street or telephone fundraising and have no commercial participators. The Trustees review fundraising governance regularly to ensure standards are maintained as the organisation grows.

There were no compliance failures in relation to any fundraising scheme or standard during the year.

MONITORING FUNDRAISERS

All HBC's fundraising activity is monitored by the Co-Director and Management Committee. Retained fundraisers work to agreed briefs, report regularly on pipeline activity and operate within clear contractual terms aligned to the charity's values. All applications and funder communications are reviewed and approved by senior leadership before issue. No third-party commercial fundraising arrangements were in place during the year.

COMPLAINTS

Happy Baby Community received zero complaints about its fundraising during the year ended 31 December 2025. The charity maintains a clear complaints policy and any concerns raised would be recorded, investigated and reported to the Board of Trustees.

PROTECTION OF VULNERABLE PEOPLE

The protection of vulnerable people is central to everything HBC does. We do not make unsolicited approaches to the public, do not use persistent or pressurising tactics and fully respect the privacy of all those we work with and support. All staff and retained fundraisers are trained to recognise vulnerability and to represent the women and families we serve with honesty, dignity and respect. These standards are embedded in our fundraising practice and reviewed regularly by the Management Committee and Board of Trustees.

Illustration ‘The Sleeping Baby’ printed with kind permission of Anita Klein

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES

The charity has a risk register in place which sets out key risks (covering governance, financial, operational, external and reputational, legal and compliance) and how these risks are mitigated. The HBC risk register is formally reviewed quarterly by the Board having been reviewed and updated by the Management Committee and CLB.

THE TRUSTEES AND MANAGEMENT TEAM HAVE IDENTIFIED THE FOLLOWING AS KEY STRATEGIC RISKS FACING THE HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY:

RISK: Unexpected geopolitical events causing a significant increase in demand for asylum support in the UK. Global instability can produce sudden and sustained increases in the number of asylum-seeking families requiring perinatal, early years and community support, outpacing the capacity of both statutory services and the voluntary sector.

RISK: Sudden or significant change in Home Office policy relating to the support of asylum seekers. Shifts in government policy can rapidly alter the profile, volume and complexity of need within our community, creating immediate pressure on services, staffing and funding. The speed and frequency of policy change in 2024— 25 has made this a heightened and ongoing risk.

MITIGATION: HBC's user-led model and strong volunteer infrastructure provide inherent flexibility in capacity. Our fundraising strategy actively includes contingency planning and our management information system enables us to identify and respond to emerging demand quickly and with evidence.

A significant development has been the UKFrance “one in, one out” agreement, which has reduced the number of people arriving in the UK able to make asylum claims through established routes. For HBC, the impact is clear: the women who do arrive are increasingly likely to have travelled through irregular, dangerous and exploitative routes — arriving more traumatised, more isolated and with a significantly heightened risk of ongoing exploitation, including by traffickers who present themselves as the only available help.

RISK: A breach of the charity's safeguarding policy causing harm to a beneficiary and/ or reputational damage to HBC. Given the vulnerability of the families we serve, a safeguarding failure would carry profound human and organisational consequences.

MITIGATION: Safeguarding is embedded at every level of HBC's work. All staff, volunteers and Trustees receive regular, mandatory safeguarding training. Our designated safeguarding lead provides ongoing oversight and our safeguarding policies are reviewed and updated regularly. Safeguarding practice is not treated as a compliance requirement but as a core organisational value woven into every aspect of service delivery.

MITIGATION: HBC monitors policy developments actively and maintains a strong presence in national networks and forums focused on the needs of asylum-seeking families, including issues specifically affecting children. Direct intelligence comes from newly arrived community members whose experiences give us real-time insight into changing conditions on the ground. We work closely with statutory and VCSE stakeholders who may be identifying women and children through Section 17 support or where families have No Recourse to Public Funds, ensuring that the most isolated and atrisk families are not invisible to our network. These relationships create early warning of emerging need and enable a coordinated response across partners.

RISK: A significant shortfall in income leading to a breach of the reserves policy. The increasingly competitive fundraising environment, combined with the withdrawal or reduction of grants, poses a risk to financial sustainability and operational continuity.

MITIGATION: HBC maintains a diversified fundraising pipeline across trusts and foundations, statutory funders and — from 2026 — individual high-net-worth giving and collaborative bids. Financial performance is monitored regularly throughout the year, including cash flow forecasting, enabling early identification of risk and timely mitigating action. Our new organisational dashboard provides real-time financial visibility across all income streams.

RISK: Loss of key staff, resulting in disruption to service delivery, organisational knowledge and stakeholder relationships. HBC's effectiveness depends significantly on the expertise, relationships and lived experience of its team.

MITIGATION: All staff have individual objectives and development plans in place. HBC's people strategy encompasses performance management, structured development pathways and the active promotion of internal progression — including from volunteer to paid staff. The strength of our community-led model means that organisational knowledge is distributed across the team rather than concentrated in individuals.

POLICIES

Policies for all relevant areas are maintained, including safeguarding (adult and child), Health and Safety, Data Protection, EDI, Conflicts of Interest, Whistleblowing, Employee Handbook, Finance Policy and Processes and GDPR. Policies are scheduled to be annually reviewed and approved by the board at the quarterly Board meetings.

RISK: A data breach or cyber attack causing reputational damage and/or disruption to operations. HBC holds sensitive personal data relating to vulnerable women and children. Any breach would carry serious consequences for the individuals affected and for the organisation's ability to operate.

MITIGATION: In 2025 HBC undertook a comprehensive GDPR review with the support of the DPO Centre, identifying and addressing all recognised areas of risk. Ongoing mitigation includes centralised management of technology systems, up-to-date anti-virus protection and regular data back-ups. Data protection is reviewed as a standing item within governance and all staff receive relevant training.

RELATED PARTIES

The Happy Baby Community works in partnership with a wide range of statutory and voluntary sector organisations in the delivery of its charitable activities.

None of the organisations or charities with whom HBC works constitute related parties for the purposes of financial reporting. There are no transactions, relationships or arrangements requiring disclosure under FRS 102 or Charity Commission guidance.

The Trustees confirm that no Trustee, senior staff member or connected person has any material interest in any contract or arrangement entered into by the charity during the year. A register of related parties is maintained and updated for Board review at every Board meeting.

30 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025 31

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES RESPONSIBILITIES

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In so far as the Trustees are aware:

There is no relevant audit information of which the charity’s auditors are unaware.

The Trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information.

Charity law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charity’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

AUDITORS

Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;

Third Sector Accountancy Limited were re-appointed as the charity’s auditors in 2025 and have expressed their willingness to continue in that capacity.

Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

The Trustees’ Annual Report has been approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by:

State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and

Sabrina Bals Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Happy Baby Community Date: 06/06/2026

Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

AUDIT REPORT 2025

Year Ended: 31st December 2025 The Happy Baby Community Charity number: 1181633

OPINION

We have audited the financial statements of The Happy Baby Community (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 December 2025 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, the Statement of Cash Flows and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs as at 31 December 2025 and of its incoming resources and application of resources for the year then ended;
have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011.

BASIS FOR OPINION

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that

the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

CONCLUSIONS RELATING TO GOING CONCERN

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the Trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

OTHER INFORMATION

The other information comprises the information included in the Trustees’ Annual Report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information.

32 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025 33

If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the trustees’ report; or
the charity has not kept adequate accounting records; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF TRUSTEES

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 32, the trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

AUDITOR’S RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE AUDIT OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with regulations made under Section 154 of that Act.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below.

CAPABILITY OF THE AUDIT IN DETECTING

IRREGULARITIES, INCLUDING FRAUD

Based on our understanding of the charity and environment in which it operates, we identified the principal risks of non-compliance with laws and regulations related to pension legislation, tax legislation, employment legislation, health and safety legislation, and other legislation specific to the industry in which the charity operates, and we considered the extent to which non-compliance might have a material effect on the financial statements. We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the preparation of the financial statements such as the Reporting requirements under the Charities SORP and FRS102, and the Charities Act 2011.

We evaluated management’s incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements (including the risk of override of controls), and determined that the principal risks were related to the pressure on management to achieve particular results. Audit procedures performed by the engagement team included:

Review of policies;
Discussions with management and trustees including consideration of known or suspected instances of non-compliance;
Evaluating management’s controls designed to prevent and detect irregularities;
Identifying and testing journal entries; and
Challenging assumptions and judgments made by management.

There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures described above and the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely we would become aware of it. Also, the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment by, for example, forgery or intentional misrepresentations, or through collusion.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at frc.org.uk/ auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

USE OF THE AUDIT REPORT

This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s trustees as a body for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Third Sector Accounting Date: 06/06/2026

Third Sector Accountancy Limited, Statutory Auditor Holyoake House, Hanover St, Manchester M60 0AS, United Kingdom

Third Sector Accountancy Limited is eligible to act as an auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025 35

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Illustration ‘Betty Dreams’ printed
with kind permission of Anita Klein
36 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025
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THE ACCOUNTS

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES INCLUDING REVENUE ACCOUNT

For the year ending 31 December 2025

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2025 2024
Unrestricted Restricted Total Unrestricted Restricted Total
Note
funds (£) funds (£) funds (£) funds (£) funds (£) funds (£)
INCOME
Donations and
3 347,027 814,689 1,161,716 425,429 766,117 1,191,546
legacies
Other income 4 28,819 - 28,819 9,963 1,762 11,725
Investment income 5 1,120 - 1,120 797 - 797
TOTAL INCOME 376,966 814,689 1,191,655 436,189 767,879 1,204,068
EXPENDITURE
Cost of raising funds 6 43,420 - 43,420 8,905 - 8,905
Charitable activities 6 340,459 816,416 1,156,875 391,385 703,796 1,095,181
TOTAL EXPENDITURE 383,879 816,416 1,200,295 400,290 703,796 1,104,086
Net income/
(expenditure) for the (6,913) (1,727) (8,640) 35,899 64,083 99,982
year
Transfers between
5,000 (5,000) - (49,259) 49,259 -
funds
Net movement in
(1,913) (6,727) (8,640) (13,360) 113,342 99,982
funds for the year
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought 212,837 167,028 379,865 226,197 53,686 279,883
forward
TOTAL FUNDS
210,924 160,301 371,225 212,837 167,028 379,865
CARRIED FORWARD
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The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025 37

BALANCE SHEET

For the year ending 31 December 2025

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Note 2025 (£) 2024 (£)
FIXED ASSETS
Tangible assets 15 3,306 5,510
TOTAL FIXED ASSETS 3,306 5,510
CURRENT ASSETS
Debtors 13 25,582 112
Cash at bank and in hand 386,024 431,113
TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS 411,606 431,225
LIABILITIES
Creditors: Amounts falling due in less than one year 14 (43,687) (56,870)
Net current assets 367,919 374,355
Total assets less current liabilities 371,225 379,865
Net assets 371,225 379,865
THE FUNDS OF THE CHARITY
Restricted income funds 160,301 167,028
Unrestricted income funds 210,924 212,837
TOTAL CHARITY FUNDS 371,225 379,865
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The notes on pages 39–49 form part of these accounts.

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Signature Print name Date of approval (dd/mm/yyyy)
Approved by the Trustees and Sabrina Bals –
signed on their behalf by: Chair of the Board 06/06/2026
of Trustees
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STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

For the year ending 31 December 2025

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Note 2025 (£) 2024(£)
CASH PROVIDED BY/(USED IN) OPERATING ACTIVITIES 19 (46,209) 133,727
CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
-
Dividends, interest, and rents from investments 1,120
-
Purchase of tangible fixed assets (6,612)
CASH PROVIDED BY/(USED IN) INVESTING ACTIVITIES 1,120 (6,612)
Increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents in the year (45,089) 127,115
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year 431,113 303,998
CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS AT THE END OF THE YEAR 386,024 431,113
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The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

1: ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Happy Baby Community meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note.

c. Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis

The principal accounting policies adopted, judgments and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:

The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern.

The financial statements are presented in sterling which is the functional currency of the charity and rounded to the nearest £ sterling.

d. Income

a. Basis of preparation

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the item(s) of income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued in October 2019 – (Charities SORP (FRS 102), and the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).

b. Judgments and estimates

The trustees have made no key judgments which have a significant effect on the accounts.

Income from government and other grants, whether ‘capital’ grants or ‘revenue’ grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred.

The trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amount of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period.

38 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025 39

Income received in advance of a provision of a specified service is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met.

e. Interest receivable

Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the Bank.

f. Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are available to spend on activities that further any of the purposes of the charity.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds of the charity which the trustees have decided at their discretion to set aside to use for a specific purpose.

Restricted funds are donations which the donor has specified are to be solely used for particular areas of the charity’s work or for specific projects being undertaken by the charity.

g. Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:

Costs of raising funds comprise the costs of fundraising and the associated support
Expenditure on charitable activities includes the costs undertaken to further the purposes of the charity and their associated support costs.

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was used.

h. Allocation of support costs

Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but

do not directly undertake charitable activities. Support costs include back office costs, finance, personnel, payroll and governance costs which support the charity's programmes and activities. These costs have been allocated between cost of raising funds and expenditure on charitable activities. The bases on which support costs have been allocated are set out in note 7.

i. Operating leases

Operating leases are leases in which the title to the assets, and the risks and rewards of ownership, remain with the lessor. Rental charges are charged on a straight line basis over the term of the lease.

j. Tangible fixed assets

Individual fixed assets of an amount greater than £3,000 are recognised on a cost basis and are depreciated over their estimated useful economic lives as follows:

Fixtures and Fittings: 17%

k. Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

l. Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

m. Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are

recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and

provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

n. Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value with the exception of bank loans which are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

o. Pensions

Employees of the charity are entitled to join a defined contribution ‘money purchase’ scheme. The charity’s contribution is restricted to the contributions disclosed in the wages and salaries note There were no outstanding contributions at the year end. The costs of the defined contribution scheme are included within support and governance costs and allocated to the funds of the charity.

p. Donated goods and services

Donated items are not included in the financial statements until they are sold or distributed on the basis that it is considered impractical to measure the fair value of donated goods.

The value recognised is the estimated value to the charity of the service or goods received.

2: LEGAL STATUS OF THE CHARITY

The charity is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered in England and Wales and has no share capital. In the event of the charity being wound up, the trustees have no liability to make good any deficit. The registered office address is disclosed on page 24.

3: INCOME FROM DONATIONS AND LEGACIES

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2025 2024
Unrestricted (£) Restricted (£) Total (£) Unrestricted (£) Restricted (£) Total (£)
Donation income 102,778 - 102,778 142,556 4,100 146,656
Grant income 244,249 814,689 1,058,938 282,873 762,017 1,044,890
TOTAL INCOME 347,027 814,689 1,161,716 425,429 766,117 1,191,546
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Included within donation income is £51,820 which relates to donated goods including food, clothes and phones.

4: OTHER INCOME

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2025 2024
Unrestricted (£) Restricted (£) Total (£) Unrestricted (£) Restricted (£) Total (£)
Other income 28,819 - 28,819 9,963 1,762 11,752
TOTAL INCOME 28,819 - 28,819, 9,963 1,762 11,752
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5: INVESTMENT INCOME

All of the charity's investment income arises from money held in interest bearing deposit accounts. All investment income is unrestricted.

6: ANALYSIS OF EXPENDITURE ON CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

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2025 2024
Note Charitable Cost of Charitable Cost of
Activities raising Total (£) Activities raising Total (£)
(£) funds (£) (£) funds (£)
Fundraising - 1,337 1,337 - 8,905 8,905
Subcontractor costs -
- 23,083 23,083 - - -
Fundraiser
Fees paid to KMP 51,194 19,000 70,194 17,502 - 17,502
(Non-Trustees)
Wages and salaries 455,948 - 455,948 206,678 - 206,678
Other staff costs 40,543 - 40,543 37,152 - 37,152
Direct provision 343,245 - 343,245 340,963 - 340,963
Volunteer Support Costs 12,535 - 12,535 8,070 - 8,070
Other programme costs 31,740 - 31,740 42,243 - 42,243
Rental costs 83,221 - 83,221 67,654 - 67,654
Bank charges 2,369 - 2,369 2,144 - 2,144
Consultancy costs 7,928 - 7,928 - - -
Insurance 1,805 - 1,805 1,400 - 1,400
Subscriptions 4,900 - 4,900 2,386 - 2,386
Travel costs 1,321 - 1,321 5,715 - 5,715
Support costs 7 78,614 - 78,614 322,488 - 322,488
Governance costs 7 41,512 - 41,512 40,786 - 40,786
TOTAL EXPENDITURE 1,156,875 43,420 1,200,295 1,095,181 8,905 1,104,086
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40 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

7: ANALYSIS OF GOVERNANCE AND SUPPORT COSTS FOR ALL DIRECT CHARITABLE ACTIVITY

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2025 2024
Support Governance Total Support Governance Total
(£) (£) (£) (£) (£) (£)
Wages and salaries 45,093 - 45,093 190,780 - 190,780
Depreciation 2,204 - 2,204 1,102 - 1,102
Consultancy costs 1,399 - 1,399 32,212 - 32,212
Fees paid to KMP 12,387 - 12,387 70,006 - 70,006
(Non-Trustees)
Travel costs 1,321 - 1,321 5,715 - 5,715
Office costs 12,932 - 12,932 10,734 - 10,734
Rental costs 3,278 - 3,278 11,939 - 11,939
Audit & Accountancy Fees - 16,418 16,418 - 17,370 17,370
Other Professional Fees - 20,907 20,907 - 16,484 16,484
Board expenses - 4,187 4,187 - 6,932 6,932
TOTAL COSTS 78,614 41,512 120,126 322,488 40,786 363,274
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Following a review of our cost allocation methodology, the coding of expenditure by category was revised during the year. As a result, the year-on-year breakdown of costs by category is not directly comparable to prior year figures. Total expenditure figures remain comparable; only the categorisation within them has changed.

Three of the charity's KMP work on a part-time paid basis, providing the remainder of their time (approximately 50%) on a voluntary basis. Our Welfare Manager also works on this basis. All are engaged as self-employed under IR35 and are employed by the Board of Trustees to support the management team of the organisation. These arrangements support the charity's mission to become fully user-led, reflecting a transitional period as the charity continues to develop its leadership capacity from within the communities it serves, with a view to these roles becoming permanent members of staff in due course.

8: NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE) FOR THE YEAR

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This is stated after charging/(crediting): 2025 (£) 2024 (£)
Depreciation 2,204 1,102
Auditor’s remuneration – audit fees 5,200 5,000
Auditor’s remuneration – accounts prep fees 1,875 1,800
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9: STAFF COSTS

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2025 (£) 2024 (£)
Wages and salaries 457,943 368,698
Employer's National Insurance costs 35,824 22,181
Employer's contribution to defined contribution
7,274 6,579
pension scheme
TOTAL STAFF COSTS 501,041 397,458
Allocated as follows:
Charitable activities 173,753 206,678
Support costs 327,289 190,780
501,042 397,458
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No employees had employee benefits in excess of £60,000 (2024: Nil).

The average monthly number of staff employed during the period was 24 (2024: 24).

The key management personnel of the charity comprise 3 co-directors. There were no employee benefits as they are self-employed. See Note 10 for disclosure of payments.

10: TRUSTEE’S REMUNERATION

11: THE NATIONAL LOTTERY

11:THE NATIONAL LOTTERY	11:THE NATIONAL LOTTERY	11:THE NATIONAL LOTTERY
The National Lottery recognised in the accounts were as follows:
	2025 (£)	2024 (£)
National Lottery	210,860	111,631
TOTAL NATIONAL LOTTERY	210,860	111,631

Andrena Cumella is a trustee of Happy Baby Community. She received £417 in relation to travel and other expenses in the year (2024: £8,470 & £912 in relation to consultancy fees and travel and other expenses respectively). This was approved by the Board of Trustees. Authority for this payment is included in the charity’s constitution.

Three other trustees claimed a total of £226 in travel expenses in the year. Aggregate donations from trustees were £382 (2024: £Nil).

There were no unfulfilled conditions and contingencies attaching to the grants. The two National Lottery grants are restricted to the Perinatal programme and the Crawley Community.

There were no donations from related parties which are outside the normal course of business and no restricted donations from related parties.

12: CORPORATION TAX

The key management personnel of the charity comprise three Co-Directors. There were no employee benefits as they are self-employed. Total remuneration in the year per director was £24,024 (2024-: £23,200), £26,000 (2024: £23,174) and £22,632 (2024: £23,200) respectively.

The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within Chapter 3 of Part 11 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects. No tax charges have arisen in the charity.

42 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025 43

13: DEBTORS

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2025 (£) 2024 (£)
Accrued income 25,000 -
Prepayments - 112
Other debtors 582 -
TOTAL DEBTORS 25,582 112
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14: CREDITORS (AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR)

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2025 (£) 2024 (£)
Trade Creditors 27,923 10,580
Accruals 8,481 6,600
Deferred Income - 28,000
Taxation and social security 7,283 10,183
Other creditors - 1,507
TOTAL CREDITORS 43,687 56,870
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15: FIXED ASSETS: TANGIBLE ASSETS

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Fixtures,
Furniture &
Total (£)
Equipment
(£)
COST
At 1 January 2025 6,612 6,612
At 31 December 2025 6,612 6,612
DEPRECIATION
At 1 January 2025 1,102 1,102
Charge for the year 2,204 2,204
At 31 December 2025 3,306 3,306
NET BOOK VALUE
At 31 December 2025 3,306 3,306
At 31 December 2024 5,510 5,510
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16: ANALYSIS OF MOVEMENTS IN RESTRICTED FUNDS

----- Start of picture text -----
Funds Transfer Balance at
Expenditure
814,689 1 January Income (£) between 31 December
(£)
2025 (£) funds (£) 2025 (£)
Migrant Helpline - 98,000 (98,000) - -
The National Lottery 16,569 210,860 (207,277) - 20,152
City Bridge Trust 1,340 61,000 (51,340) - 11,000
Lifelines International 1,042 59,000 (60,042) - -
The Smallwood Trust - 20,000 (20,000) - -
BBC Children in Need 952 38,380 (39,332) - -
Purley Food Hub 175 6,480 (6,655) - -
KPMG Foundation 26,860 25,250 (36,649) - 15,461
Legacy Health and Equity 5,000 - - (5,000) -
London Churches
- 1,700 (1,700) - -
Refugee Fund
The Clarkson Foundation 11,029 - (11,029) - -
Croydon Almshouses 7,036 15,000 (22,036) - -
Garfield Weston
19,724 25,000 (36,306) - 8,418
Foundation
Masonic Charitable
20,000 - (1,351) - 18,649
Foundation
The Rayne Foundation 16,596 30,000 (23,840) - 22,756
The Cherry Family 6,905 - (6,905) - -
Foundation
The Mercers Company 27,821 60,000 (78,756) - 9,065
Sport England 5,979 - (2,317) - 3,662
Heathrow Community - 10,500 (10,500) - -
Trust
Islamic Relief Foundation - 36,000 (33,304) - 2,696
Surrey Community - 10,000 (10,000) - -
Foundation
Swire Charitable Trust - 27,985 (18,201) - 9,784
The Hollick Family - 10,000 (783) - 9,217
Comic Relief - 48,334 (26,756) - 21,578
Other - 21,200 (13,337) - 7,863
TOTAL RESTRICTED FUNDS 167,028 814,689 (816,416) (5,000) 160,301
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44 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025 45

16: ANALYSIS OF MOVEMENTS IN RESTRICTED FUNDS – Previous reporting period

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Balance at Transfer Balance at
Expenditure
2024 1 January Income (£) between 31 December
(£)
2024 (£) funds (£) 2024 (£)
Migrant Helpline 566 240,071 (214,181) 1,545 -
The National Lottery 18,162 111,631 (113,224) - 16,569
City Bridge Trust 7,709 60,000 (66,369) - 1,340
Lifelines International - 55,332 (67,599) 13,309 1,042
The Smallwood Trust (27,115) 25,230 (25,978) 27,863 -
BBC Children in Need - 32,657 (31,705) - 952
Purley Food Hub 142 6,230 (6,197) - 175
KPMG Foundation 28,407 35,015 (36,560) - 26,861
MOPAC 25,780 - (25,780) - -
Legacy Health and Equity 5,000 - - - 5,000
Partnership
The London Churches
- 1,750 (1,771) (21) -
Refugee Fund
The Clarkson Foundation - 29,160 (18,131) - 11,029
Croydon Almshouses - 15,000 (7,964) - 7,036
Cash for Kids - 3,000 (3,000) - -
Garfield Weston
- 25,000 (5,276) - 19,724
Foundation
The Masonic Charitable
- 20,000 - - 20,000
Foundation
Reigate and Banstead - 6,702 (8,329) 1,627 -
Council
The Rayne Foundation - 30,000 (13,404) - 16,596
The Cherry Family 20,000 (13,095) - 6,905
Foundation
The Mercers Company 64,632 (36,811) - 27,821
Sport England 14,400 (8,421) - 5,979
Other (4,965) 71 - 4,894 -
TOTAL RESTRICTED FUNDS 53,686 767,879 (703,796) 49,259 167,029
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NAME OF RESTRICTED FUND Description and Purpose of Fund
Migrant Helpline The Perinatal Programme – Support of pregnant women.
The National Lottery The Crawely Community + The Perinatal Programme
City Bridge Trust Welfare, eduction and listening support.
Lifelines International The Acton Community.
The Smallwood Trust The support of the referrals and continuous care team.
BBC Children in Need The Childrens' Team and their development.
Purley Food Hub Food for the community groups.
The KPMG Foundation Every Child Can Thrice programme of activities.
London Churches Refugee Fund Food and hospital bags for the community groups.
The Clarkson Foundation Hospital bags and emergency perinatal support.
Croydon Almshouses The Thornton Heath community.
Garfield Weston Foundation London community groups – core costs.
Masonic Charitable Foundation Every Child Can Thrive programme of activities.
The Rayne Foundation Every Child Can Thrive programme of activities.
The Mercers Company Core costs and staff well-being.
Sport England Swimming in the community.
Heathrow Community Trust The Acton Community Group.
The Swire Foundation Perinatal Programme.
Islamic Relief Foundation Support or women and children in the community across London.
Sussex Community Foundation Support for women in Sussex.
Surrey Community Foundation Support for women in Redhill and Reigate.
The Swire Charitable Trusts Breaking cycles of disadvantage.
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46 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025 47

17: ANALYSIS OF MOVEMENT IN UNRESTRICTED FUNDS

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Transfer
Balance at Balance at
Income Expenditure between
1 January 31 December
(£) (£) funds
(£) (£)
(£)
2025 – Current reporting period
General fund 212,576 376,966 (381,410) - 208,132
TOTAL GENERAL FUNDS 212,576 376,966 (381,410) - 208,132
Designated fund: Hardship Fund 261 - (2,469) 5,000 2,792
TOTAL DESIGNATED FUNDS 261 - (2,469) 5,000 2,792
TOTAL UNRESTRICTED FUNDS 212,837 376,966 (383,879) 5,000 210,924
2024 – Previous reporting period
General fund 226,197 435,884 (395,246) (54,259) 212,576
TOTAL GENERAL FUNDS 226,197 435,884 (395,246) (54,259) 212,576
Designated fund: Hardship Fund - 305 (5,044) 5,000 261
TOTAL DESIGNATED FUNDS - 305 (5,044) 5,000 261
TOTAL UNRESTRICTED FUNDS 226,197 436,189 (400,290) (49,259) 212,837
NAME OF UNRESTRICTED FUND DESCRIPTION, NATURE AND PURPOSES OF THE FUND
General Fund The free reserves after allowing for all designated funds
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18: ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS

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General Designated Restricted Total funds
funds (£) funds (£) funds (£) (£)
2025 – Current reporting period
Tangible fixed assets 3,306 - - 3,306
Net current assets/(liabilities) 204,826 2,792 160,301 367,919
TOTAL UNRESTRICTED FUNDS 2024 208,132 2,792 160,301 371,225
2024 – Previous reporting period
Tangible fixed assets 5,510 - - 5,510
Net current assets/(liabilities) 207,065 261 167,029 374,355
TOTAL UNRESTRICTED FUNDS 212,575 261 167,029 379,865
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19: RECONCILIATION OF NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS TO NET CASH FLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES

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Net income/(expenditure) for the year
2025 (£) 2024 (£)
Adjustments for:
Net income/(expenditure) for the year (8,640) 99,982
Adjustments for:
Depreciation 2,204 1,102
Other movement - 156
Decrease/(increase) in debtors (25,470) (112)
Increase/(decrease) in creditors (13,183) 32,599
NET CASH PROVIDED BY/(USED IN) OPERATING ACTIVITIES (45,089) 133,727
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Illustration ‘Meeting the tiny baby’ printed with kind permission of Anita Klein

48 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

OUR FUNDERS

WORKING TOGETHER – OUR REFERRAL PARTNERS

COUNCILS

The Balcombe Charitable Trust

NHS REFERRAL PARTNERS SOCIAL SERVICES HEALTH PERINATAL MENTAL HOMELESS SAFEGUARDING SOCIAL GP'S VISITORS MIDWIVES HEALTH SERVICES TEAM TEAMS WORKERS

50 HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025

OUR PARTNERS

Report design by oakshed.co.uk

Croydon Methodist Circuit

The Rights Lab Run by:

THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS With heartfelt gratitude...

To everyone who has given of themselves this year. Thank you. Not just for what you gave, but for how you gave it. With flexibility when our needs shifted overnight. With agility when the world around our families changed faster than any of us could plan for. With intentionality, choosing, deliberately and repeatedly, to show up for women and children who needed someone in their corner.

feel they matter and are loved, is one of the most beautiful things we witness in this work.

Our volunteers gave something that cannot be measured in hours. Many of you have lived the experiences of the women you support. You brought not just your time but your understanding, your languages, your stories and your solidarity. You are the heart of this community.

Some of you worked days and evenings and weekends. Some of you carried boxes, collected donations, filled cars and knocked on doors. Some of you sat across a table from a woman in crisis and offered your professional expertise with such kindness. Our legal partners, health professionals, housing advisors and advocates , you gave your knowledge generously and without condition and it made a profound difference to real lives.

To our funders and donors: the act of giving is itself an expression of belief. Belief that things can be different. Belief that a woman who arrived with nothing deserves the same warmth and welcome as anyone else. Every contribution, large or small, financial or practical, carried that belief into action.

What drives Happy Baby Community has always been love. Love and respect or the women and children we serve. Love expressed in the everyday: a warm room, a known face, a phone answered at 2am. That love is not ours alone. It belongs to everyone in this family of supporters who keeps it alive.

Some of you gave in ways that are quieter but no less powerful. You knitted and sewed. You cooked and baked. You made things with your hands and gave them with your heart, so that a woman who had very little would know that someone, somewhere, had sat and thought of her and made something just for her. You hugged children who needed hugging. You looked around a room and asked not “have I done enough?” but “what else could I do?” That instinct — to keep looking, to keep giving, to keep finding one more way to make a family

We are honoured to do this work alongside you.

With deep gratitude and great affection, The Happy Baby Community Family

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ending December 2025 53

HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY

Illustration ‘Betty Smiles’ printed with kind permission of Anita Klein