**Annual Report April 20 – March 21** **Trustees during this period:** Jane Fowden – Chair Karen Wood – Treasurer John Atherton – Secretary Marianne Matusz Shabeer Nazir Julie Park Allison Porter Andrew Tomlinson Veritasy ## **Introduction from Trustees** What a year, what a challenge! I’d like, on behalf of all trustees, to thank our exceptional, dedicated and generous staff and volunteers for their expertise, enthusiasm, experience and advocacy. Thanks, also, to all who have supported us with generous donations to enable us to continue and increase our services. DASH is led by the needs of our clients, and their voices are at the heart of our small charity. Whilst there is war, violence and persecution, there will be people seeking protection. We stand together to provide compassionate solutions. ## **Acknowledgements** Special thanks to our funders, supporters and partners: Tudor Trust * Lloyds Foundation * National Lottery * Blue Thread *Allen Lane *Sir James Reckitt Charity *One Community *Respond & Adapt *Alan and Babette Sainsbury Charity Foundation *Comic Relief *One 17 Design *St Patrick's Church *Huddersfield Parish Church *British Red Cross *St Vincent de Paul *NACCOM *Refugee Action *Refugees At Home *KCALC *Huddersfield Quakers *Kirklees Welcomes *Sanctuary Kirklees *Sanctuary Clothing *Welcome Centre *Third Sector Leaders *Solace *Asylum Matters *Huddersfield Town Foundation * HTSA *Mikron Theatre and the people of Kirklees for their kind donations. 1 ## **Rapid response...** If those of us with ready access to public health messaging felt unnerved by the first Covid lockdown, what must it have been like to be unable to get information in a language you could understand or to unwittingly risk your safety, and breaking government rules, because of a lack of knowledge of them? Drop-ins for advice and hot meals closed. Remote services were only accessible to those with wifi or credit. How could you know that you needed to buy a mask and sanitizer? If you did know, on £5.60 a day, how could you afford them? How could you socially distance in a House of Multiple Occupancy with 6 others, all of whom speak different languages? What if you were one of the 'invisibly homeless' sofasurfers, given shelter by friends, now told to leave because of the virus and lockdown rules? What would you do? Where would you go? With an initial Core Team of 3 staff and 3 volunteers, we: - Opened a full-time phone line - Set up an SMS service to contact all clients to tell them we were open - Sent translated Covid information - Handled nearly 1000 interactions in the first 6 weeks (phone, texts, Whatsapp, email, Zoom) - Began topping up phones - Established a telephone triage and appointments system Pre-lockdown, many drop-in visitors came just for the social. Now, 100% of callers reported needs. At the beginning of the lockdown, **10** volunteers gave 80% of the hours that 32 had given previously. **3** volunteers conducted **117** welfare calls. By the end of the reporting year, **37** volunteers had given **3389** hours including **64** training attendances. 2 As services remained closed, we bucked national trends, seeing more not fewer clients than before. We received thanks from the Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire for 'outstanding service to the community' and were nominated for a Queen's Award for Voluntary Service. ## **Our reach** By summer, we'd moved into our first ever office and reorganised into **3** core projects . Across our service for the year, we supported **341** asylum claimants and their families (that's approx **75%** of initial claimants reported to be in Kirklees), of whom **215** were new, from **53** countries with **35** languages, by conducting **2971** appointments and an eye-watering **10,153** remote communications. ## **Asylum Casework Project** We increased the number of Level 1 Advisors and raised our registration with the Office of Immigration Services Commission to Level 2. As well as finding people solicitors, the Asylum Casework project: - Made emergency Section 4 applications that saw homeless clients temporarily housed in hotels - Worked on 7 Fresh Claims - Undertook successful Exceptional Case Funding applications - Successfully challenged Work Permissions - Successfully applied to lift No Recourse to Public Funds conditions - Made family reunion applications (via Sheffield Hallam University) - Assisted clients to claim asylum directly through DASH - Undertook asylum support applications and appeals - Identified case merits for a Judicial Review and found a pro bono lawyer to stay a client's deportation order and secure him Leave To Remain Our clientele is made up of people seeking asylum at initial stage and those who have been refused. The latter often have more complex cases for whom LTR is harder to obtain. One of our core purposes is to support those who have had trouble navigating the legal system and consequently fallen outside of it. We're delighted that **39** clients were granted Leave To Remain. 3 ## **Welfare Support** We expanded this service for advocacy & referrals (including food), delivered **334** ESOL sessions and **48** referrals to **This Way For English** . We created an internal system for disseminating swathes of new information, _InfoMap_ , to help us help clients. By winter, volunteer hours were back up to pre-lockdown levels and we appointed a Welfare Support Coordinator. **Destitution support** – we became referral partners to the **Red Cross** Hardship Fund to access their destitution support. A significant development was our partnership with **Kirklees Welcomes** , with whom we'd worked closely throughout the pandemic. DASH was commissioned to administer the Essential Needs Fund for migrants with No Recourse to Public Funds. **Clothing** – with drop-ins suspended, clients could no longer access free clothing, so we were glad when **Sanctuary Clothing** launched. In partnership, we piloted a Free Shop event for **45** clients and their families, on the back of which DASH funded a Sanctuary Clothing Project Lead, to build their capacity. In an innovative fundraiser, match-funded by **One Community** , we also raised over **£4000** to buy Kirkwood vouchers for clients to buy clothes. **Health** – from translated Covid messaging to mental wellbeing, health emerged as a key support need. We registered clients with GPs and applied for access to free prescriptions. Working with the Migrant Health Subgroup enabled a joined-up approach. **16** staff and volunteers received mental health training from **Solace** with whom we developed a new referral pathway to combat the worst effects of prolonged social isolation. Clients also took part in research on maternity outcomes for asylum seeking women. 4 This legal literacy project, a partnership with **Refugee Action** and delivered by volunteers, has gone from strength to strength! Perfectly bridging our Asylum Casework and Welfare Support projects, our parttime coordinator oversaw the recruitment and training of **28** Asylum Guides, of whom **1/3** were experts by their own experience of the asylum system, who delivered legal information to **43** clients in **12** languages. Sessions were delivered remotely or, where necessary, dynamically – including a hotel car-park. As well as delivering a Toolkit of asylum information, the Guides became a vital conduit between DASH and isolated clients, often picking up needs for referrals into our other projects. This new **Outreach** would go on to become a major development in the next reporting year. ## **Campaigning** Working with **Asylum Matters** and a Kirklees multi-agency subgroup, we increased involvement with the _Lift the Ban_ campaign. 2 former DASH clients met Jason McCartney MP to share their experiences of years of enforced destitution while they awaited their Home Office decisions. 5 ## **DASH Treasurer's Report – Financial Year 2019-2020** Author: K Wood – Treasurer Date: November 2021 This report covers the financial accounting period from 1[st] April 2020 to 31[st] March 2021. The financial year began a week after the first Covid lockdown began, with ensuing activities highly affected by the pandemic. We were fortunate to be offered additional financial support by our funders to help us continue delivering services throughout. Some areas of previous spending decreased as a result of Covid (drop-in costs, travel costs, volunteer expenses) while other needs increased, most notably in adapting to a remote working model, and addressing digital exclusion and clothing poverty. Whilst homelessness and destitution remained the most urgent need, DASH was able to access external provision for direct client payments or accommodation, via new partnerships and changed Home Office provision (emergency Section 4s). Capacity-building to enable these changes was made possible by using emergency Covid funding to extend some staff hours. Some of our projects extend beyond one year – the rise in cash reserves to **£116,976** reflect that these funds will be used over a longer term. Our total income during the year was **£167,570** , the majority of which came from grants. - The Tudor Trust: The second year of a 3 year grant of £96,000 , with **£32,000** in this financial year, to fund the salaries of 2 staff members. Tudor also offered a further £15,000 towards salaries and £3,000 to support the welfare of staff and volunteers. - Lloyds Bank Foundation: **£9,115** to build capability, capacity and resilience. This provided PPE + digital equipment for project delivery. - Refugee Action: **£17,263** to support the Asylum Guides project. - Respond and Adapt: **£10,000** to extend Level 2 Asylum Casework hours. - National Lottery: **£9,838** to extend caseworker hours + running costs. - Kirklees Council: **£25,000** Essential Needs Fund grant to directly support clients with NRPF or facing additional hardship. This is a project which DASH is administering to other organisations, to provide funds to individuals and families seeking asylum in Kirklees (as well as other migrants with NRPF) and will run for a couple of years. 6 We continue to be supported through donations from both individuals and organisations. Nearly half of public donations are made regularly and we are especially grateful for these. Due to Covid restrictions, fund-raising activities were more limited than in previous years but two online DASH appeals meant that we could address some urgent priority needs like translation services and clothing. Our Winter Clothing appeal was match-funded by One Community to raise a total of **£4170** Our total outgoings for the year were **£93,074** . Of this total, DASH spent £10,501 on direct financial support to clients in the form of client destitution payments (£5,323), the payment of client legal expenses (£500) and digital connectivity phone/data (£4,154). We spent £4,158 on client accommodation and hosting fees. Staff costs were our most significant outgoing (£66,387), some of which funded the new partnership role of the Sanctuary Clothing project lead, with a further £8,619 spent on hiring office space in the Quaker Meeting House in Paddock and other general expenses including the setting up of an SMS service for client mass messaging, professional interpreter services plus stationary, printing and general admin costs. We began the financial year with funds of £42,481 and these increased significantly over the year so that we ended it with a cash balance of £116,976. Unrestricted funds, which can be spent on any charitable purpose, comprised £42,657 of this total, whilst the majority, £74,319 was restricted to specific purposes (like salaries, rent, insurance and specific projects or services for clients). Finding sufficient unrestricted funding is difficult for an organisation like DASH and generating more unrestricted income through donations and our own fund-raising activities continue to be a priority in the new financial year. DASH ended the 2020-2021 financial year in a good financial position, allowing the organisation to expand operations by supporting clients with more services Funding for Asylum Guides and the Essential Needs Fund is scheduled to continue for 2 more years, which provides further stability to our organisation. 7 CHARITY COMMISSIO ,FOR ENGLAND AND WALLS SH (t)L41 I IKAfÉ £[££ H MISS Receipts and payments accounts IAML 202D CC16a To 31 thRLH2D Section A Receipts and payments Total funds A1 Recelpts 117,082 4270 140.682 14,(X16 1,185 2.607 322 9.736 1,185 11.967 831 4.532 7.1CM) FLnJra%rYJ 1607 &756 12 12 Sub total (Gn)ss income for AR) 124281 167J70 (see table). Sub total 43.289 124,281 167,SlO 78.799 A3P Cl￿t trdvel a>sts DestrtLrtIc￿ SUK¥XYt 524 SJ23 4.154 4273 4820 2,431 39S4 Clwl1gJal ¢J)sts 195 276 4,158 4.158 66,387 2.150 3.133 859 66.051 1150 32A90 1m7 1.171 2,542 3,713 Sub totsl 10.965 81109 93.074 . (s•e table) Sub total 10,965 82,109 93.074 64.806 et rf recwpts/(payments) 3132 41172 74.4 13.99 10.333 42.657 31147 74,31 42.480 116,976 28.487 42.48 Cash funds this end CCXX R1 (SS) 17KW2021 Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Categories Detaijs B1 Cash furKts . 16.995 24m4 74319 Total cash fvnds 41657 74.319 Restrfcted Endowmont to nurest £ BS Liabililies J wootj 11 CCXX R2 acc(yJnts (SS) 17109r2021 CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLANO AND WALES Independent examlner's report on the accounts Sectlon A Independent Examlnor'9 Report Report lo tho trusteo81 m•mbor8 of cs IJ On accounts for the year ended 31 IdlL Charlty no (11 any) 1181 15 Set out on pages I report lo the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Ihe above charity (-Ihe Trust") lor the year ended 21 01 a03tL As the charitys Irustees, you are responsible lor the preparati¢)n of the accounts In accordance wlth the requirements of Ihe Charities Act 2011 ("the Aci.). Responsib51ities and basls of report I report In respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out rny examination, I have followed all the applicable Direciions given by Ihe Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. Independent examlnerfs statement uud8rt I have completed rny examlnatlon. I conflrTn that no material matters have come to my attenllon In connection with the examination (otherth disclo￿￿wh1¢h gives me cause to believe that in. any material respect: the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of Ihe Charities Act; or the accounts did not accord with the accounting records: or the accounls did not comply wilh the applicable requirements concerning Ihe form and content ol accounls sel out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requiremenl Ihat the accounls glve a 'lrue and fair. view which is not a matter considered as part of an Independent examinalion. I have no concems and hava come across no olher matter5 in connedion wllh Iho exarnlnallon lo whlch allenllon should b& drawn in Ihis report In order lo enable o proper underslanding of the accounls to be reached. Please dolole Ihe words In Ihe brackels if Ihey do nol appty. Slgned: Dale; Jo Name: Ro16vant profosslonal quallflcatlon(8) or body lid fi'Man£e( Ic4P Oct 2018 IER (If any): Address: Secllon B Dlsclosuro Only complele if Ihe examiner needs lo highlight material matters ol concem (see CC32, Independenl ex8minalion of charity accounts: directions and guldance for ex8mlners). Glve here brfef detalls of any Items Ihat the examlner wlshes to dlsclose. IER Oct 2018 CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Sectlon A Independent Examlner's Report Report to tho trusteosl members of 'tLLkL A IJ On accounts for the year ended 31 lolL Charity no (if any) 1181 Set out on pages I report to the Irustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity ("Ihe Trust.) for the year ended?1 03 aQ3tL As the charitys trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("Ihe Act"). Responsibllities and basis of report I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. Independent examiner's statement I have completed my examination. I confimi that no material matters have come to rny attention in connection with the examination (otI￿rt di￿le￿Which gives me cause to believe that in. any material respect: the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or the accounts did not accord with the accounting records- or the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a 'true and fair, view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection wilh the examlnatlon to whlch attentlon should be drawn in this report in order lo enable a proper underslanding of the accounts to be reached. Please dololo Ihe words In the brackets if they do not apply. Slgned: Date: 03 JL Name: Relevant profos6lonal quallficatlon(s) or body I A cLaLL1411{ IER Oct 2018