2020-12-31-accounts

Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod
From	Period start date			To	Period end date
	Day 01	Month 01	Year 2020		Day 31	Month 12	Year 2020

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name Concern Cymru

Other names charity is known by

Registered charity number (if any) 1182469

Charity's principal address Regal House Gelligaer Lane, Cathays Cardiff Postcode CF14 3JS

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee(if any)
	Mr Stuart Gerrish	Chair
	Mr Michael Rees	Treasurer
	Mrs Sheila Stephen
	Mr Phillip Nicholas
	Mrs Anna Hartt
	Mr Peter Knight
				Appointed by invite of trustees

Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

Name	Dates acted if not for whole year
None

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Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser	Name	Address
Bankers	CAF Bank Ltd	25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4JQ
Independent Examiner	Mrs Sylvia I. Whitehead	46 Bryn Terrace, Aberdare, CF44 8RA

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

Director: Mr Russell Walters

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document

• (eg. trust deed, constitution)

How the charity is constituted

Constitution registered by Charity Commission for England and Wales, March 14[th] 2019

Charitable Incorporated Organisation

• (eg. trust, association, company)

Trustee selection methods

Appointed by trustees

• (eg. appointed by, elected by)

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

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

• policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;

• the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;

• relationship with any related parties;

• trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.

The charity is managed by a board of trustees who set the overall strategy for the operation and development of the organisation. In this they are assisted by a management committee consisting of the director, treasurer and four senior counsellors. This committee, through the director, also oversees the day to day operation of the service.

All trustees and counsellors working with the charity hold current DBS checks.

Concern Cymru is affiliated to the Association of Christian Counsellors (ACC) and operates under the code of ethics of that organisation.

A system of policies and codes of practice is in place that together with the code of ethics mentioned above, are designed to manage the inherent risks involved in counselling. These are reinforced by the high standards of initial and ongoing training required to be undertaken by counsellors, and by continuous supervision. The charities possible financial exposure to professional or public liability is covered adequately by insurance.

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Section C Objectives and activities

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)

The objects of Concern Cymru are:  the advancement of health for the public benefit by providing counselling to people with mental and emotional needs, together with  the advancement of education for the public benefit by providing accredited training and professional development for counsellors.

In considering the operation and activities of Concern Cymru, the Trustees give due regard to the Charity Commissions guidance on public benefit. Counselling is a well proven and approved technique for addressing a wide variety of mental, emotional and spiritual needs. Talking therapy is approved and provided by the National Health Service with the anticipation that patient's symptoms will be alleviated by counselling. Concern Cymru provides public benefit by mobilising the time and expertise of Christian volunteer counsellors in South Wales to provide a service to supplement the state talking therapy provision which is increasingly overloaded and unable to meet demand. It’s main activity is to provide free counselling to any person in need of such a service. A wide range of problems can be addressed and a number of counselling models are used, depending on the nature of the presenting case. Counselling is primarily carried out face to face by our voluntary, trained counsellors at our counselling rooms at Cathays, Cardiff and at a number of other centres in the South Wales area. In order to make our services known as widely as possible, we maintain contacts with local GP Health Centres, social services, local community health organisations and support services, so that these organisations can refer people who may benefit from our services to us. Our services are also advertised through local media and our web site.. It also aims to provide public benefit by increasing the number of qualified counsellors available in the community. This is achieved by organising and running accredited training courses in counselling skills, together with specialised in house courses for counsellors to promote continuous professional development. These courses and seminars are open to anyone with counselling interests and not only those who work with Concern Cymru. We also provide the opportunity for students studying for counselling degrees or diplomas at local universities and colleges, to work with us. This enables them to build up the necessary number of practice hours required for their courses. Restrictions imposed by the Covid ‐19 pandemic severely affected our ability to carry out many of our normal activities in our usual manner, primarily because of restrictions placed on face to face meeting. To maintain a service required our operation to be delivered totally on‐line. Pre‐pandemic, none of our services were delivered on‐line so the service had to adapt to a major change in its operation in a very short time. A library of counselling and other relevant books and resources is maintained to provide information and encourage counsellors to develop their skills.

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Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

v

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

• policy on grantmaking;

Concern Cymru is grateful to the volunteers, who give their time freely to counsel our clients and also to study and improve their counselling skills. Without them Concern Cymru would not be able to function in its present format where no compulsory charge is made to clients for counselling.

• policy programme related investment;

• contribution made by volunteers.

Section D Achievements and performance

2020 was a year which confronted Concern Cymru with some very difficult challenges. Concern Cymru, which was formed as a CIO to succeed the unincorporated charity, Cardiff Concern, had started its public operations in September 2019. At the start of 2020 it was increasing the number of clients it was seeing as the transition from the original charity was progressing. However, by March of 2020 the Covid‐19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns all face to face counselling was forced to stop due to government restrictions. Concern Cymru operated almost entirely on a face to face client/counsellor basis and initially all counselling had to stop. Our only options to continue counselling were to use telephone or online video counselling. Unfortunately these methods require some different skill sets from face to face counselling, and only a few of our counsellors were trained in, or had any experience of, these methods. Fortunately, we were able to set up a short online training course for all our voluntary counsellors who were prepared to carry out online counselling. This equipped them with the necessary skills to adapt to an online counselling environment. Clients who were in the process of being counselled when the lockdown started, were offered the chance to continue their sessions online. This offer Summary of the main was taken up by some 50% of clients. The remainder ended their counselling achievements of the charity for various reasons, mainly because either they felt they could not get during the year sufficient privacy in their home setting to talk freely to the counsellor or did not have suitable technology at home to partake in online sessions easily. At the start of lockdown, we also had a waiting list of just over 200 people who had requested counselling. These were all contacted and informed that their counselling, when available, would likely be on line and likely to be delayed. Over a hundred prospective clients asked to be removed from our lists, and we were left with a waiting list of 90 people. We were able to maintain a limited online service within a few days of the initial lockdown, using our counselling volunteers who were adequately trained in online counselling, but by June we had trained sufficient counsellors to provide a service at approximately 80% of our normal operating capacity. The contract we have with a local high school to counsel students deemed to be in need of such intervention, was also restarted on line in the September term. We are particularly grateful to our volunteers for the extra effort they have all put in to getting the service up and running again in exceptionally difficult circumstances.

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Section D (cont’d) Achievements and performance

Apart from the emergency training arranged to equip our counsellors with online skills, a series of courses in Basic Counselling Skills were started in the year. This series is designed to train those interested in counselling, but with no formal qualifications, at NVQ levels 1,2 and 3 in basic counselling skills. On successful completion of the series, trainees will be qualified to join services such as Concern Cymru as trainee counsellors and start to make an active contribution to the counselling profession. Particularly in this year when our staff and volunteers have been called on to make exceptional efforts to maintain Concern Cymru’s service to the community, we are extremely thankful for the continued prayer and financial support of local churches, clients, friends and private charitable trusts. which has enabled us to maintain the free service we offer. We are particularly grateful for the generous support of the National Lottery Community Fund which will enable us to carry out more training and provide additional resources for on‐line operation in the coming year.,

Section E Financial review

Section E Financial review	Section E Financial review
Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves	Concern Cymru aims to maintain reserves to cover a minimum of six months’ operation. This would allow the charity to arrange for an orderly closure should funding cease, ensuring that any client undergoing counselling at the announcement of closure would have every chance of their case being brought to a conclusion whilst the charity was still able to operate.
Details of any funds materially in deficit	There are no funds in deficit
Further financial review details (Optional information)
You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:  the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);	Much of 2020 was financially difficult because many of our income streams disappeared, particularly from clients. However, the ability to use the Government’s Job Retention Scheme particularly through the Scheme’s flexible period, enabled us to maintain our 2 paid employees on full salaries for the year. This was again was made possible by an increased input from our Trustees and the volunteer management team thus allowing our paid employees to be furloughed for a large part of the year.

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	how expenditure has	Total receipts for the year were £69,948 and payments were £35,962.
	supported the key	£12,841 off this income came from the transfer of part of the funds of the
	objectives of the	original charity, Cardiff Concern, to Concern Cymru as was agreed within
	charity;	the application to the Charity Commission for the formation of the Charity.
	• investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.	We also received unrestricted donations from several charitable trusts. These were £13,000 from the Ardbarron Trust Ltd, £5,000 from the Cardiff YMCA (1910) Trust and £2,550 from the James Williams Trust. At the end of the year, we were also fortunate to obtain a Community Fund Grant of £10,000 from the National Lottery to assist with training and provide additional computing equipment and services to enable the
		charity to operate a more effective online service in addition to its normal
		face to face service. The bulk of these grants came at the end of the
		year, enabling us to face 2021 with much greater confidence.
		The total reserves held by Concern Cymru at the end of the year were
		£47,966. £35,886 of these reserves were held in the general fund which
		were sufficient to meet the requirements of the reserve policy above.

Further financial review details (Optional information) cont’d

Most of the charities expenditure is used to rent and operate suitable premises to provide counselling rooms and office accommodation, and to provide a part time salary to a director and administrator to oversee the day to day operation of the service.

Expenditure is also made to publicise the service to ensure our services are known as widely as possible to the public, and to provide insurance cover to protect our counsellors and the service against professional liabilities which may arise. No counsellor is paid for counselling services given to Concern Cymru, although occasionally travelling expenses are paid when counsellors have to travel long distances to our counselling centres. It is also sometimes necessary to hire in professional counsellors to meet particular needs. It is usually necessary to pay fees for this, but most counsellors we use offer considerably reduced fees for their services.

Section F Other optional information

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature (s) Full name(s) Michael Bernard Rees John Stuart Gerrish Position (eg Secretary, Chair, Chair etc)[Treasurer ] Date 10th September 2021

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Concern Cymru

Registered Charity Number 1182469

Receipts & Payment Account and Statement of Assets & Liabilities under Part 8 of the Charities Act 2011 for the period of 12 months ending December 31st 2020

Receipts: (a) Voluntary Sources Client donations Church gifts Other donations (b) Income from Assets Bank interest (c) Income from Counselling in Schools St Teilo's High School (d) Miscellaneous Receipts Fund Raising Room Hire Prepayment for Training Fees Sundry income Total Receipts Payments: (a) Direct Charitable Expenditure Salaries, Staff expenses Schools' counselling counsellor fees Operation of counselling premises Support of counselling service Administration Training and information Fund raising costs Publicity Total Payments Surplus/(deficit) for the year before transfers Transfers (Surplus training fees returned to general Surplus/(deficit) for the year after transfers Balance brought forward Balance carried forward Income tax recovered from Gift Aided Donations Income from Government Grants - Job Retention Scheme	Note 2 3 4 5 6 7	2019 General Fund Designated Funds Restricted Funds Total Total Training Courses Grants £ £ £ £ £ 250 - - 250 - 1,747 - - 1,747 - 37,439 - 12,159 49,599 27,655 439 - - 439 - 1 - - 1 1 5,900 - - 5,900 1,600 88 - - 88 - 180 - - 180 500 950 - 950 - - - - - - 10,794 - - 10,794 - 56,838 950 12,159 69,948 29,756 2020
	8 9 10 11 12 13 14	21,535 - 170 21,704 10,271 5,070 - - 5,070 2,880 6,575 - 60 6,635 1,733 672 - - 672 580 116 - - 116 222 - 300 500 800 - - - - - - 965 - - 965 90 34,933 300 730 35,962 15,776
	fund)	21,906 650 11,430 33,986 13,980 - - 21,906 650 11,430 33,986 13,980
		13,980 - - 13,980 - 35,886 650 11,430 47,966 13,980
STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 DECEMBER 2020 ASSETS: Bank and cash balances: Debtors Furniture and fittings (insured value) LIABILITIES: Creditors		Note 2020 2019 £ £ 15 47,966 13,980 16 1,388 1,600 12,500 12,500 17 4,133 2,400

Purpose of Funds:

a) Designated funds hold monies received and spent in connection with counselling training courses provided by Concern Cymru. Surplus monies remaining after the completion of each course are transferred back to the general fund.

b) Restricted funds hold the income and expenditure associated with grants made to Concern Cymru for specific purposes.

Concern Cymru - Accounts 2020 Page 1 of 3

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS:

1. Basis of accounts:

These accounts have been prepared on a 'receipts and payments' basis in accord with the Statement of Recommended Accounting Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities (SORP 2005), UK Accounting Standards and the Charities Act 2011

Receipts:

Receipts:	Receipts:
2. Donations and other income: Transferred from Cardiff Concern Friends Gift Aided Other Counsellors Gift Aided Other In Memorium gifts Grants (restricted) Ffynon Oer Windfarm Benefit 200 People's Health Trust 859 1,100 10,000 Charitable trusts Arrbarron Trust 13,000 Cardiff City Mission Cardiff YMCA (1910)Trust 5,000 James Williams Trust 2,550 3. Income tax recovered: From Gift Aid donations Small Donation scheme 4. Bank interest: CAF Gold Account HMRC interest 5. Fund Raising: Collection Boxes 6. Training Fees Level 1/2 course fees Level 3 course fees 7. Sundry income Private use of photocopier Llynfi Afan Renewable Energy Park Community Fund National Lottery Community Fund		General Designated Restricted Total 12,841 12,841 320 - - 320 2,559 - - 2,559 150 - - 150 20 - - 20 1,000 - - 1,000 - 12,159 12,159 20,550 - - 20,550 2020	2019 Total 15,000 - 55 - 50 - -
	13,000 5,000 2,550		- 12,550
		37,439 - 12,159 49,599	27,655
		368 - - 368 72 - - 72	- -
		439 - - 439	-
		1 - - 1 - - - -	1 -
		1 - - 1	1
		88 - - 88	-
		88 - - 88	-
		- 950 - 950 - - - -	- -
		- 950 - 950	-
		- - - -	-
		- - - -	-
Payments: 8. Salaries and staff expenses: Director Salary Director expenses Director Pension/N.I. Administrator Salary/Fees Counsellor fees /expenses 9. Operation of counselling premises: Rent/Rates Energy Supplies,equipment and safety Repairs/Refurbishment Building and contents insurance		General Designated Restricted Total 14,402 - - 14,402 - - - - 246 - - 246 6,887 - - 6,887 - - 170 170 2020	2019 Total 5,715 473 95 3,989 -
		21,535 - 170 21,704	10,271
		3,712 - - 3,712 705 - - 705 1,385 - 60 1,445 305 - - 305 468 - - 468	1,733 - - - -
		6,575 - 60 6,635	1,733

Concern Cymru - Accounts 2020 Page 2 of 3

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS (cont'd)

Payments: (cont'd)

10. Support of counselling service: Liability and accident insurance Association fees and subscriptions DBS Checks Counselling Telephone Books and resources 11. Administration: Bank Charges Internet Postage, stationery Photocopying 12. Training and information: External courses/conference fees, expenses Course teaching and accreditation fees: Level 3 Level 1/2 College Partnership Fees Other training resources 13. Fund Raising costs Promotional pens 14. Publicity: Media advertising Counselling service publicity printing/postage	2019 General Designated Restricted Total Total 293 - - 293 278 269 - - 269 253 12 - - 12 49 98 - - 98 - - - - - - 2020
	672 - - 672 580
	66 - - 66 25 50 - - 50 - - - - - 77 - - - - 119
	116 - - 116 222
	- - - - - - - - - - - - 500 500 - 300 300 - - - - -
	- 300 500 800 -
	- - - - -
	- - - - -
	- - - - - 965 - - 965 90
	965 - - 965 90
Assets and liabilities: 15. Bank and cash balances: CAF Cash Account CAF Gold Account Cash in hand 16. Debtors Payments due for schools contract Unclaimed tax on gift aid donations 17. Creditors Training courses - tutor and accreditation fees Accounts prepared by Office service charge to 31st Dec 2020 (estimate - not invoiced at year end) Office rent (due 25th December - not invoiced by year end)	2019 General Designated Restricted Total Total 34,884 650 11,430 46,964 12,979 1,002 - - 1,002 1,001 - - - - - 2020
	35,886 650 11,430 47,966 13,980
	1,333 - - 1,333 1,600 55 - - 55 -
	1,388 - - 1,388 1,600
	- - - - - 2,400 - - 2,400 2,400 1,733 - - 1,733
	4,133 - - 4,133 2,400
	Michael B. Rees (Treasurer), January 2021

The accounts and statement of assets and liabilities set out on pages 1 to 3 relating to the year ending 31st December 2020 are as approved by the trustees.

Signed:

Stuart Gerrish (Chair)

Date: 08 March 2021

Concern Cymru - Accounts 2020 Page 3 of 3

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report R•port to th• tru•to081 members of cO￿8M Cymrn On accounts for the year •nd•d 3111 December 2020 Ch•rfty no lif any) 1182469 S•t out on pag•S 1 to3 I report to the twslees on my examination of the accounts of the above chartty {Ihe Trust-) for the year erKled 3111212020 Responslbllltles and As the tharity trustees of the Trust. you are responsible for the preparation basls of r•port of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Ad 2011 (Ihe Act.). I rewrt in respect of my examination of the Tnjst's accounts carried out under section 145 of 2011 Act arKI in carrying out my examination. I have followed the appli¢alJe DirectK•ns gI￿n by the Charty Commission urKJer Section 145{5)(b) of the Act. I have COM￿Oted my examination. I confim) that no material matters have coma to my attention { '} in connection with the examinalion ￿l¢ti gNe8 me cau8e to beli￿• that in, any material Ind•p•nd•nt examln•rf8 ststsment accountiry rocord8 kem in accwdance with Section 130 of the Aci or the accounts do aCc￿d wth the accounting records I have no concems and have come acros8 no other matters in connection with the examination to ¥thich attention should be drawn in order to enabb a proper understanding ol the accounts to be reached. ' Ple8se delete the words in the brackets il they (b not appty. Slgn•d: Dato: N•m•: Sylvia l. ￿￿Ilehead R•l•vant prof•sslonal qu•lifi¢atlonls> or body (If •ny): Addr•M: 46 Bryn Terrace Aberdare CF44 8RA IER October 2018

Section B Disclosure Only complete rf the examiner needs to hohlight matters of cOn￿M {see CC32, Independent examination of charity aCc￿nts. directions and guidance for examiners). Glve here brièf detalls of any items that tho examiner wishes to disclose. IER October 2018